Finding Faith
by Brackenfrond
Summary: Ok, Alice could accept that maybe the things she believed in when she was little were real. But her being a guardian, along with Jamie and Sophie - impossible. But, maybe like Jack said, she just needed to find some faith in herself. Includes future Jackrabbit and JamiexOC. T because I'm not sure what to rate it as -.-'
1. Chapter 1

I don't own RotG, obviously. I only own Alice.

XoOoX

Jamie still believed.

He had seen them, after all. All of them. The five guardians. He was the first to see Jack, and had believed in the others for all of his life. Even though his belief had wavered, he still believed.

He still saw them, even though he was now at high school, senior year. Sometimes they would talk to him, Jack mostly, though Bunnymund would sometimes chat with him. Sandy, of course, couldn't talk, but sometimes Jamie would peer out of his window, late at night, to merely catch a glimpse of him. He no longer lost his teeth, but sometimes a flicker of wings, a blur of blue, would alert him to the arrival of the Tooth Fairy, or one of her helpers. And at Christmas, he would stay up late to greet Santa with a plate of cookies.

Sophie would often help him with these little things. Her favourite guardian was Bunny – he always had been, and always would be.

Jamie was currently in the art room, having taken art for one of his subjects and throwing himself fully into the whole idea of it. His painting represented the guardians, not that anyone knew that. But the cold colours of winter on the canvas at the moment reflected Jack Frost, with white and silver snowflakes in flurries on a dark background, with light blue branches, tinted with hints of silver and white snow.

"Hey, Jamie." With a start, which fortunately didn't ruin his painting, Jamie returned the paintbrush to the pot of water, already turning a silver colour from the acrylic. Turning, he saw Alice leaning against the doorframe, a smile on her lips. He took in her appearance – she had a drawstring bag, along with a satchel, slung over her shoulder, containing her dance kit. Her curly blond hair was still tied back in a messy ponytail. She was wearing black skinny jeans, black, knee length boots and a silver jumper. "What you painting?"

"Oh, nothing. Just for, you know, the winter showcase." He said, scrutinising his painting some more. "Come here for a sec, would you? It feels as though it is missing something…"

The sound of her boots clicking echoed on the tiled floor and Jamie could feel the heat radiating off her in waves.

"It feels as though a person is supposed to be there." Jamie froze as Alice peered over his shoulder, an eyebrow quirking. "How about one of your guardians?" Her voice was playful and teasing.

"Oh, shut it, Al." Jamie nudged her out of the way, before taking the canvas off the stand and placing it on a flat surface, away from the centre of the art room. "You love taking the mick out of me."

"Course I do, Jame." She retorted, flinging a carefree arm around his shoulders, which looked odd as she was quite a few inches shorter than him. "You still believe in children's stories."

"They are not just 'children's stories'!" Jamie retorted, elbowing her in the side. Alice laughed.

"Of course they aren't Jamie. Come on, it's bloody freezing outside and I want to get a hot chocolate before they're sold out."

"You just love to criticise what I believe in." Jamie mock pouted as the duo walked out of the school, Alice pulling on a black woollen hat and scarf to protect herself from the cold, Jamie now in his winter coat. "Besides, Miss Wonderland, you had a wilder imagination than me!"

Alice turned a brilliant shade of red, ducking a snowball which came flying her way. When she looked for the culprit, there was no one in her immediate range of vision, though Jamie waved. She figured they must have hidden somewhere, probably behind the statue. "Shut it, Bennett. At least I'm no longer delusional."

"At least I didn't fall down a rabbit hole and meet the White Rabbit, who wasn't actually white." Jamie snarked back, dodging a smack to his head. Smirking, the boy knelt and patted some snow together, forming a ball. Alice's eyes widened.

"Don't even think-"She didn't have time to finish her sentence, before the compacted snow was hurtling towards her, hitting her smack bang in her face. Alice's green eyes grew wide with shock, before narrowing as she knelt. "This means war!"

The two spent hours playing in the snow, flinging snowballs back and forth at each other, completely forgetting about the hot chocolate they had wanted to buy – they could get it cheaper from home. The teenagers were now caught up in the fun of winter.

Invisible to all but one, Jack Frost allowed a smile to grace his face as Jamie got a handful of snow shoved down the back of his top by a laughing Alice.

XoooX

Meanwhile, North was having a sense of deja vu.

This had happened only once before, a few years back. About eight, to be exact, back when Jamie was ten.

Black sand was covering the globe North had in the room once more, swirling around in a tumulus storm of fear and dread as the guardian watched with wide, disbelieving eyes, unable to do anything as he watched the lights flicker, before the sand flew into the air, once again causing a shadow of Pitch to appear on the walls, only this time seeming to look directly at the man, a scowl on his face, before blowing away through the window, out into the open air.

"Not again." He said, his accent thickening as worry began to take over his mind. "It's only been eight years, it cannot be happening again!"

Even as he spoke those words, his hand itched towards the button which would signal the guardians to join him and he started it with a sudden firmness. Pitch was coming back, and they needed to be prepared.

OxxxO

"Hey, what's up with the sky?" Alice stopped wrestling with Jamie, attempting to give him a snow facial, to stand up, helping up her friend and look at the sky, where lights were glimmering against the black.

"Aurora borealis." She murmured, clarifying her explanation at Jamie's confused looks. "Northern lights, we learnt about them in science last term. They're supposed to appear further north, though, in Antarctica, places like that."

"Wonder what's going on…" Jamie trailed off when he spotted Jack, who looked harried and nervous, flying away, following the direction of the lights. His eyes narrowed – something was up.

The lights soon faded away and Alice realised it was about six and her dad was going to be worried sick, because she said she'd be home by half past five. The two parted ways, one without a care in the world, the other trying to figure out what the lights meant.

OxxxO

"What do you mean, he's coming back?" Bunny ran a hand down his face, his accent becoming more and more prominent. "You're telling me that, after only eight years, Pitch is coming back?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." North said, eyes continuously flickering back to the globe, where lights still twinkled. He still remembered the devastation of the last time Pitch returned to power – they all did.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no! This is really, really bad!" Tooth's wings were fluttering a mile a minute and sand formed an array of shapes above Sandy's head as his worry got to him. At that moment, Jack flew through the open window, landing carefully on the floor.

"Sorry I'm late – what's going on?" He took in everyone's worried expressions.

"It's Pitch." Aster explained to the sprite, his ears twitching in annoyance. "He's coming back."

"What?" Jack breathed, looking around as though someone was about to laugh, to claim that they had fooled him. When no one did, he felt the Earth spin beneath his feet. "Impossible."

"It obviously is possible." North stated. "As it has happened."

"What are we going to do?" Tooth squeaked out, fluttering nervously from side to side. Sandy obviously had the answer, the shape of the moon forming above his head.

"Of course – we'll ask Man in the Moon." Aster said, turning towards the moon.

"Yes." North shook himself from his stupor, Jack moving to stand next to the Easter Bunny. "Manny, tell us what we must do."

The moon's light shone upon the symbol etched in the floor, shapes forming before the five's eyes. There were three, in total.

There was a smaller shape, one which Aster recognised immediately, breath catching in his throat as the form of Sophie took a clearer figure.

The second was that of her older brother, Jamie, whom all the guardians recognised instantaneously, as he was the one who had saved them all last time.

The final, though, was new to all but one of them. The girl was smaller than Jamie, her hair long and unruly. Her eyes blazed with a fire.

"We need the help of these mortals?" North questioned. The image remained firm, confirming his question.

"Well, that's all fine and dandy." Aster commented, slightly irritable. "And I may not approve of Sophie being involved, but who's the last one?"

"Alice." Jack answered, gaining stares. He shook his head, white hair covering his blue eyes. "She's Jamie's best friend but that's impossible…she doesn't believe."

There was an out roar of disbelief.

"How are we going to beat Pitch if she doesn't even believe in us?" Aster asked rhetorically.

"We are doomed." Tooth was anxious, her wings fluttering even quicker than before. Sandy looked hopeless.

"Do not lose hope." North said. "We shall get Jamie and Sophie first, as they believe in us – I'm sure Jamie can help convince his friend that we are real."

"Great." Jack said unenthusiastically, though he couldn't help but remember Jamie's earlier comment – something about falling down a rabbit hole. His blue eyes flickered towards Bunny, only to be met with bright green. The two held each other's gazes for a few seconds, the tension between them intense, before the rabbit nodded slightly. "We'll go now."

"All right." North rubbed his hands together. "Now, to the sleigh!"

XoooX

Jamie was ready for bed and was looking out his window, waiting for the arrival of Sandy.

Well, he definitely had expected Sandy to show up. What he hadn't been expecting were the other guardians to show up with him. The grim expressions on their faces told him that there was something serious going on and he opened his window, enough so that he could stick his head out.

"Jack, what's going on?" He asked the one guardian he felt more comfortable with.

"Pitch." He replied, looking edgy, nervous. That was all Jamie needed to know.

"And you're here because?"

"Manny told us you are needed to get rid of him, mate." Aster spoke up. The rabbit looked a bit ill. "You, Sophie and some other girl who's your friend, apparently."

"But…Alice, she doesn't…" Jamie shook his head, before climbing out the window, standing on the pane and jumping into the sleigh, Tooth catching him before he fell over after losing his balance. "We'll come to that obstacle when we need to – Soph's room is next door."

Getting Sophie was easy enough – she saw that Aster didn't look top notch and immediately jumped into the sleigh, taking a seat next to the guardian of hope. It was Alice Jamie was worried about.

She never had, for as long as he knew her, believed in things which she couldn't see with her eyes, or hear with her ears, or feel or anything. She had to have proof, have evidence. That was why the tale of her falling down a rabbit hole and claiming to have entered Wonderland confused him so much. Then Alice said she was about five when it happened, give or take a few years, and Jamie understood.

So he and Jack talked and planned, until they came to a conclusion. The only way to get Alice to believe would have to be by showing her their magic.

XoooX

Alice was going over her Italian notes, her hair pulled back into a braid, wearing her pyjamas. She narrowed her eyes, sweeping her fringe out of them and trying to understand what she wrote actually meant. She really should learn how to make better notes, she thought absently as she re-wrote them out a lot neater into her notebook.

Her head whipped up towards her window, getting whiplash from the quick movement and, wincing, looked at the frost spreading over the window.

"No way." She murmured, swinging her feet over the side of her bed to get a better view of her window, now almost completely covered by frost. "Frost doesn't spread that fast, does it?"

When the images started forming in the frosted glass, Alice was sure she was losing her mind, or this was some dream. When pinching herself only caused her pain and didn't change what she was seeing, Alice just stared.

There was a rabbit, a fairy, the outline of a person, or a person like figure, and a train. She rubbed her eyes, blinking as to assure herself that they were actually there. And then, they became 3D and began to move around her room.

Alice reached out a hand to touch the rabbit, only to have it burst into a flurry of snow. This was insane. It was snowing in her room – that certainly didn't happen every day. What was going on?

Her mind flashed back to Jamie's stories, of the guardians of childhood and her eyes widened.

"They're real." Managed to get past her lips, eyes darting back towards the window and almost falling off her bed as she spotted the boy standing in front of her window, a cocky smile on his face.

"You must be Alice." He said.

"Oh my God." She whispered, staring. "Oh my God. Oh my God. This is insane. You're real."

"Very much so." The boy's grin grew wider. "Jack Frost, at your service."

"You're going to tell me something insane, like the Easter Bunny's here t-t-too…" Alice blinked, staring past Jack and out the window, where she spotted Jamie, on a sleigh, grinning at her, along with lots more people. Oh, not to mention the giant rabbit and a fairy. "Why, exactly, is Jamie in a sleigh? And outside my window?"

"We sort of need your help." Jack rubbed the back of his neck at Alice's incredulous look. "Come and join us? We're off to the North Pole."

"Ok." Alice concluded things couldn't get any weirder and decided that riding in a sleigh couldn't be that harmful. Fortunately, her window was wide enough for her to get out of, along with Jack, and she soon found herself next to Jamie and the Tooth Fairy, who was currently examining her teeth.

"Ooooh, they're so white!" The fairy squealed. "Just remember to floss."

"Sure." She smiled wonkily. "Gosh, this is so surreal. I'm talking to the Tooth Fairy about dental hygiene."

"Odd thing to happen in one night, eh mate?" Alice stared at the Easter bunny, surprised at his accent.

"Were you a kangaroo in a past life? Seriously, that accent is very kangaroo-ish." The blond looked infinitely confused at the Pooka's astounded face and Jack's hysterical laughter. Santa smirked.

"I like her." He said. Sandy gave a thumbs up in agreement.

"You would." The rabbit said, before returning his green gaze back to Alice. "I'm a bunny and always have been. The accent is not 'kangaroo-ish'. And, please, call me Aster or Bunny. Kangaroo is what Jack calls me." Her glared at the winter sprite as he burst into another wave of laughter. Sandy was laughing silently along with him. Alice blinked.

"Ok." She said. Silently, Alice took in the rest of the group, noticing that Sophie was also there. The younger girl grinned at her, and Alice returned the smile.

"Alright, North – let's go!" Jack said.

"Alright, buckle up!" Santa, Alice presumed he was actually called North, yelled. Then she realised there were no seatbelts.

"Um, there's no seat belts." She said. North laughed.

"It's just an expression." Jack smirked and the sleigh began to move. Alice let out a yell as it jolted forward, gripping the underside of her seat tightly, her knuckles white.

Jamie let out a whoop, Jack laughing. Aster looked as though he was going to be sick, Sophie was giggling. Tooth was flying alongside the sleigh and Sandy looked as though he was completely used to this and he probably was.

Soon, though, the rapid pace slowed and Alice took this opportunity to look down over the town. Tiny lights were glimmering like fireflies down below them, and she could just make out cars moving along roads like ants. It was breath taking.

"Where are we going?" Sophie asked, breaking the silence and the spell the town had over Alice.

"The North Pole." Tooth said, her eyes glimmering. "We had an incident with the globe."

"The globe?" Alice asked.

"It shows how many children believe." The fairy explained. "It will have one extra light now."

"I have a right to be completely and utterly bewildered, right?" At tooth's nod, Alice slumped against Jamie, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "This is way too much to go through in an hour. Maybe less, I don't know. My internal watch has gone all dodgy now."

"It's Saturday tomorrow – at least you can sleep in." Jamie consoled.

"I have an Italian test on Monday." She groaned. "I need to study for it – I can't remember anything, apart from certain words which cannot be used in essays as they are considered 'inappropriate.'" Alice sulked and Jamie sighed.

"What did you write?" He asked, exasperated.

"Odio la matematica, perché si tratta di un argomento di merda." (I hate Maths, because it is a shitty subject.) Alice answered promptly. "It means-"

"We don't want to know, Alice." Jamie said quickly, seeing how Jack looked insanely curious and Tooth rather confused. Sandy's shoulders were shaking with laughter, Aster looked a lot more comfortable, an amused smile on his face. Sophie was giggling and he was sure North was keeping in his laughter, if his shaking shoulders were indicating anything. "Well, apart from Jack."

"Whatever. Frosty can ask me how to curse in Italian whenever." The blonde shrugged and Jack let out a cheer, before realising that Alice had called him 'Frosty'. Aster was laughing now. "It should count! I did extra research to learn how to curse it Italian!"

"But does not improve your grade in the subject." Jamie stated. "Besides, I thought you had no exams because you're in the winter showcase."

"Mr Aidens is the devil in disguise." Alice said solemnly. "I still need to practice the choreography for the dance number, as well as choose the second song I'm singing, not to mention the fact I still need to rehearse all three."

"Winter showcase?" Tooth asked.

"At our school." Alice said. "It's tradition and this is my first time doing it. Basically, it shows off the more creative students. Jamie's showing off his paintings – the theme is 'guardians of childhood'." She put on a mock wondrous voice, ducking before Jamie could land a blow on the back of her head. "I'm used to that move by now, Jamie-boy. Think of a new – OW!" Jamie smirked as Alice scowled, rubbing her foot which the boy had stood on.

"Can't you pull out of it?" Jack asked, leaning on his staff.

"No." She answered. "There are scholarships up for prestigious performing arts colleges, not to mention the publicity I could gain! I need to do this." Alice finished passionately. Everyone, excluding North, was staring at her. A question mark appeared above Sandy's head.

"My dad refuses to pay for the college courses." Alice said, sighing. "He doesn't think I can get anywhere if I continue singing, dancing and acting. Wants me to be a business woman or something, but I don't get the academic subjects. Maths just looks like a jumble of numbers and symbols, science confuses the hell out of me and ICT…well, I attempt to figure out how to use half the programs and they crash on me after a while. English is the only one I'm half good at."

"Your parents should support you." Aster said, unusually morbid. "If that's what you want to do, you should be able to do it." Alice shrugged.

XoooX

The rest of the journey was silent and conversation started up again when they reached North's workshop.

"Why am I surprised that yeti's and elves are real?" Alice asked, staring. Jamie shrugged. Sandy let out his silent laugh. "You know what, ignore me. I think I'm overthinking everything."

"Well, this is the globe." North gestured towards the massive sphere in the centre of the main room.

"There are so many kids in the world." Sophie said, looking at all the glimmering lights.

"Each one of them believes in us." Aster explained. "It was scary eight years ago, when they stopped. Only your brother still had faith in us." Aster cast Jamie a grateful look and the brunette blushed.

"He's always believed." Alice commented casually, looking at the emblem on the floor where they were standing. "What's this?"

"Manny communicates with us here." North said, gesturing towards the moon hanging like a silver Christmas bauble in the night sky.

"The Man in the Moon." Jamie nodded. "Makes sense."

"Stand back, guys." Jack said, and the three humans moved out of the emblem drawn on the floor, standing between Aster and Tooth. "Manny, they're here – what must they do?"

The moons light shone through the window, awe etched on the three guests as their images showed in the centre of the group. In front of them, a question mark appeared and Sandy's eyes widened and he tugged urgently on North's sleeve, an array of different symbols flashing above his head. North nodded.

"It seems," North cleared his throat. "That you three are…different, from other humans. Manny has chosen you to help save the world, thus you have powers. You must discover what you are guardians over."

Sophie squeaked, Jamie stared and Alice shook her head, pinching her arm once again. Yes, this was definitely real.

She was a guardian.

XoOoX

Well, this was unexpected.

I watched Rise of the Guardians and became obsessed. And when I gain an obsession, I need to release it. Thus this story came into being.

Imagine Bunny and North with their accents – I can't write accents.

Anyway, Alice is my OC. I'm still developing her, so her personality might change a bit over the course of the next few chapters, but I'm not sure. I've got a firm backstory in place for her, and a few flaws, so yeah. I just need to figure out how to incorporate them.

I'm British, for those of you who don't know, so my knowledge of the American school system is fuzzy. I know what the names of the different years there are (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior) and how old the students are (14-18, right?), but not the way subjects are run and stuff. Basically, I'm combining my little knowledge of the American school system with British GCSE's, so it is probably really, really off, but it isn't a key part of the story anyway.

Please review – my first time writing anything moving picture related, apart from glee. But glee's easier to write anyway, so yeah.

In case I don't update this before Christmas; I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! ~ Jazz xxx


	2. Chapter 2

"How, exactly, are we supposed to find out what we are guardians over?" Jamie asked. There had been a bit of a protest from Bunny, but Jack had pulled him out of the room and talked to him. They both returned, Jack smug and the rabbit slightly embarrassed. Alice had opened her mouth, stared slightly, and reclosed her mouth, realising that she really didn't need to know.

"Ah, you find out yourself." North said. "You need to find your centre."

"Our centre." Sophie repeated. "That isn't cryptic at all."

"Our centres consist of blood and gooey stuff." Alice said dead seriously. "I'm assuming that isn't, exactly, what you meant."

"Of course not, silly." Tooth said. "It's what you guard – for example, I guard memories."

"How can the Tooth Fairy guard memories?" Jamie tilted his head. "I thought you collected teeth?"

"Every tooth holds a memory." Tooth explained. "And when a child needs those memories, I give them back to the child."

"Ah." Alice nodded. "I guess that makes sense…"

"You still look confused." Sophie threw in casually, ignoring the piercing glare the older girl shot her. "What does everyone else guard, then? At least we can narrow it down, if only slightly."

"Jacky here is fun, North's wonder, Sandy dreams and I'm guardian of hope." Aster said.

"Well, that's great! Really helpful!" Alice said sarcastically, removing the bobble from the bottom of her braid and running a hand through her curly hair. "How am I supposed to 'guard' anything? I'm not special or amazing or anything!" She sighed, backing into the wall and sliding down it. "I can't even pass my maths test without having to repeat it. How am I supposed to-to _protect_ people?"

"Protecting children doesn't have anything to do with how clever you are." Jack said, kneeling down next to Alice while the others watched, eying the girl with sympathy. "You just have to find some faith in yourself."

"Yeah, right." Alice rolled her eyes, before pushing herself up. "Right, let's stop this self-pity fest and get to work – what's first?"

"Ah, yes." North stopped staring at the girl, enough to concentrate on the task at hand. "If Pitch is coming back, we need to get you equipped."

"Equipped? With what, exactly?" Jamie asked, almost fearing the answer.

"Weapons, mate." Bunny answered casually, oblivious to Jamie's wide eyed look, Sophie bouncing on the balls of her feet and Alice's raised eyebrow. "How else are you going to defeat fearlings?"

"Fearlings?" Alice felt sick. "What are fearlings?"

"The beginnings of nightmares." Tooth answered simply. "They're Pitch's minions."

"Aren't nightmares just really, really bad dreams?" Alice was really confused. This was so perplexing. Sophie and Jamie looked as though they were comfortable with this. She, on the other hand, was most certainly not.

"Yes and no." Jack started as North began to move away from the globe room, the rest of them following. "They are a physical form of your common nightmares. They look –"

"Like horses, I assume." Alice stated dryly, ignoring Jack's raised eyebrow. "A mare is a female horse, right? So I guess that a physical representation or whatever would be a horse. Correct?"

"Yup." Jack replied, ignoring Sandy who was shaking with laughter.

"And we've got to, what, defeat these things?"

"Basically."

"Brilliant."

Jamie and Sophie let out a snort at Alice's false cheery reply. Jack and Bunny looked slightly taken aback by the Cheshire cat grin plastered on her face. The blonde darted ahead, grabbing Jamie's wrist in the process, dragging him along down the corridors of Santa's workshop, oblivious to the laughter of the rest of the group gathered and Jamie's bewildered look.

"We're off to see the wizard,

The wonderful wizard of Oz!"

"Alice, we aren't off to see the wonderful wizard of Oz." Jamie stated, eyes twinkling in amusement. Alice merely grinned and spun him around, before dipping him. Jamie glared at her.

"But, il mio Cappellaio (my Hatter), why should we not imagine?" At that, she removed her grip on the brunet, causing Jamie to fall to the floor with a crash. He scowled.

"I despise you."

"You love me really."

"Come on, idiots." Sophie dragged the two back behind North, who was chuckling at their antics. "Let North show us weapons and stuff."

"Only you would be excited about seeing knives and junk, Soph." The younger girl winked.

"Obviously, oh brother of mine."

XoOoX

"Wow, these are so cool."

"And deadly. Don't forget deadly."

"I never knew you had a backroom dedicated to weapons, North!"

"There at lots of things you don't know, Jack."

Alice was staring. This was the North Pole. Santa's workshop. Where toys were made. And here, in the backroom, was a huge array of weapons. She blinked once, twice, before rubbing her eyes and blinking again. Okay, she definitely was not dreaming. All her childhood beliefs had just gone and been shoved in a dark box in the deepest, darkest pits of hell.

"This is..." She trailed off.

"Unbelievable?" Tooth suggested.

"Unexpected?" The rabbit cut in.

"Amazing?" Sophie trilled.

"Deadly?" Jamie pointed out, keeping an eye on his sister, who was examining a display of very, very sharp knives.

"I was going to go for weird." Alice inputted dryly, before cautiously examining a display case, holding a silver bow, accompanied by a quiver filled with silver arrows.

"I want a knife." Sophie decided, nose pressed up against the glass as she stared in awe at the weapons. "The bronze one with the flowers. Beautiful but deadly."

"Oh no. You are not getting some weapon which you will end up killing yourself with." Jamie said, grabbing his sister's wrist and dragging her away from the display case.

"But Jamie…" Sophie whined, pouting.

"No matter how much I disagree with this, mate, it's best if you let her choose something." Aster said, sighing. "It's that or deadly nightmares. What do you think is best?" Jamie opened his mouth, seemingly ready to protest, before it closed and he sighed in defeat, letting Sophie go and examine the knives again.

"I like that sword." Alice commented, gesturing absently to a silver sword, white moonstones inlaid at the hilt. Jamie laughed.

"You would – it looks like the vorpal sword from Alice in Wonderland."

"Think how cool it would be." Alice's eyes twinkled. "Swinging it across a nightmare's head, while yelling 'off with your head!'."

"You'd be fulfilling your lifelong dream of becoming the Alice."

"As I intend to." The two teens stared at each other, looked at the rest of the slightly puzzled group, before bursting into laughter.

"You two are so confusing." Sophie commented.

"I know we are, March Hare." Alice managed to puff out, causing Sophie to pout.

"You love giving everyone Wonderland nicknames." She said, defeated.

"I know."

"And this is Alice, who is much too grown up to believe in such childish nonsense." Jamie teased, dodging the swat from Alice.

"Shut up, Jame."

"Hate to disrupt this argument." Sophie piped up. "But shouldn't we really get our weapons sorted?"

"Ah, yes." North clapped his hands together. "First, we need to find which one suits you."

"Can't they hurt us?" Jamie was sceptical, eyeing the sword that Alice had previously been looking at.

"No, only nightmares." North responded, giving the silver bow and arrows to Sophie, who looked slightly disappointed – she had her heart set on one of the knives. "Go on – try it out."

"I've never tried archery before." Sophie said, slightly mollified, but took an arrow out of the quiver and notched it into the bow. She held it perfectly, and when the arrow hit its intended target, a target Jack had formed out of ice, the girl could only stare. "How the heck is that possible?"

"It's chosen you." North said wisely. "All guardians have a weapon which chooses them – Jack his staff, I have my swords and Bunny has his boomerang. Sandy and Tooth's weapons are part of their powers, though."

"Cool." Sophie stared in awe at the bow she was holding, before slinging it over her shoulder. "Jamie, try out the sword!"

"Uh, no, thank you." Jamie backed away slowly. "I'd like to still have all my limbs, thank you."

"Come on Jamie." Alice was grinning, her uncertainty completely forgotten. "Try the lovely sword ou – oooh, knife!" And the blonde was off, staring at a beautiful silver knife. The hilt was bronze, engraved with antique, Victorian like designs. The blade had vines and flower patterns on it and Alice felt a pull towards it. "That one." She pressed a finger on the glass. "That's my weapon – I'm sure of it."

"It would be a knife." Jamie muttered as North took the knife out of the glass cabinet, handing it to Alice. The blonde grinned as her fingers closed around the hilt and twirled it around her fingers. The movement was smooth, as though it had been practised well, though Alice knew that if she'd tried it at home she would be in A&E with a nearly severed finger.

"Yep, this is mine." She said, wondering where she would put it. Alice wished she was wearing jeans and a belt – she could have put it there. "Uh, what should I do with it?"

"Keep it on you." Bunny said. "You'll need it later – good news is that no one but you and we in this room will be able to see it, unless you want others to be able to." Alice nodded.

"Well, that's definitely useful."

"Obviously." Jamie had, finally, strayed over to the sword Alice had been eying earlier. North had opened the glass cabinet and he carefully touched the hilt, running fingers over the hilt gently.

"Pick it up, Jame!" Alice chirruped. "It might be yours!"

"Go on Jamie!" Sophie urged. The boy turned to glare at the two girls, who were now smiling innocently. But he did as they said, and picked up the sword. It felt weightless in his hands, and he felt stronger, more powerful.

"Woah." Jamie muttered, swinging it through the air which it sliced through perfectly.

"Well, that's obviously yours." Tooth said, hovering just above floor level. "So, everyone has something to defend themselves with now, right?"

"Yes." Alice said, a yawn escaping her. "And I'm exhausted – can we go home now?"

"That might be a good idea." Jack said, smiling sheepishly. "To the sleigh?"

"I think I'll pass." Aster said, looking as though he was going to be sick.

XoooX

Alice didn't really want to go to school on Monday. After a weekend spent with the guardians and learning how to master the use of her knife, which wasn't really much mastered yet, school seemed boring. She was walking with Aiden at the moment, so it was fine.

Aiden Stuart only shared her music and drama class. He had curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He always wore jumpers slightly too big for him in the sleeves, because he was tiny for his age, even smaller than Alice, who was a respectable 5'6".

"Progress with Jerome?" She asked, absentmindedly pulling her woollen hat further down so it covered her ears.

"None as of yet." Aiden sighed, his breath forming mist in the cold, crisp air. "Just face it – he's straight, Alice. Not even bi."

Another important detail about Aiden – he was gay. Not that you would notice at first glance, but yes. This, and his small stature and relatively high grades caused the boys who considered themselves 'hard-core' to pick on him.

"Oh, little Mouse; you have no faith in me." Alice mussed up Aiden's hair, ignoring his protests. "I guarantee that he is at least bi-sexual. I have known J much longer than you have."

"Correction – you share more lessons with him." The boy piped up, before waving off at someone in the distance. "Izzy and Jamie decided to wait."

"That's nice of them." Alice hummed, before skipping up the path and Aiden stumbled along after her, his footing occasionally being lost due to ice on the sidewalk. "Morning guys."

"Morning, Wonderland." Izzy grinned, flipping her black fringe out of her eyes. She was bundled up in a black winter coat, not to mention snow boots, possibly two pairs of gloves, a hat and scarf, wrapped tightly around her neck. It was slightly obvious that she didn't like the cold. "Ready for another riveting dance session? Jerome decided to bagsy you as his partner, so I'm left searching yet again."

"It just proves that I'm a better dancer than you, doesn't it?" Alice stuck her tongue out, but didn't have time to dodge the kick to her shin. "Ow, Iz! I need that to dance with!"

"Is J here, then?" Aiden asked. Jamie nodded, grinning.

"He headed to homeroom – coming, Alice, Izzy?" The two girls stopped bickering with each other long enough to nod at Jamie, before carrying on their mock argument while walking inside, following the two boys who were mature enough to not squabble over petty incidents, such as who was the better dancer.

The homeroom, as always, was full of chatting students. They were separated into groups, mostly – the jocks, the popular girls (Izzy affectionately called them 'the sluts'), the nerds and everyone else. Alice didn't see much point to this system, really, but it was how it worked. Sometimes, it was better not to question it.

"Alice, Jamie!" A familiar voice called out, turning out to be an excited Millie, who was waving them over frantically. "Aiden, Izzy, come on! We got seats!" The other part of the 'we' Millie said appeared to be Jerome, his brown eyes sparkling in amusement at his friend.

Aiden was the first to get it over, setting his bag on the floor next to his seat, which was next to Jerome. The two began to talk about their latest math assignment, which sounded like gibberish to Alice. But they were talking, which was progress in her mind.

Aiden had a crush on Jerome since the boy had defended him from a small group of tormentors. She first assumed it was hero worship, but it seemed as though Aiden genuinely liked Jerome. The brunet was, as always, completely oblivious. Oh, and presumably straight. Mustn't forget that little detail.

Izzy, Jamie and Alice took to the remaining seats, when a wolf whistle sounded from a table. Izzy froze, sitting stock still.

"Oi, Isabella, why don't you take off a few layers and display that sexy body, eh?" The ginger jock laughed, his friends howling with laughter. Izzy tugged her coat further around her body.

"Make them shut up." She hissed to Jerome. The brown eyed boy cast Izzy and apologetic glance, before yelling over.

"Leave off her, guys." He said. "Stop being idiots and flirt with someone who actually wants you to flirt with them."

"Oh, I'm so scared." The same jock said, mock whimpering in fear. "The little fairy wants us to stop picking on his friend." Jerome's eyes narrowed and Aiden froze up.

"I can get you off the team for that, you know." He remarked, trying to sound as casual as possible. The boy's eyes widened in realisation. "You know coach doesn't take lightly to things like that."

"Whatever, Bradfield." Another Jock snorted, this one blond. "We'll see you on the pitch." The group returned to their conversation, and Izzy smiled at Jerome gratefully.

"Thanks, J." She murmured, taking off her scarf and hat, allowing her hair to fall loose.

"They just won't leave you alone, will they Iz?" Millie asked, her green eyes searching Izzy's face, as though she could read her mind.

"They always do it. I'm fine, Millie." Izzy looked her in the eye, a slight grin crossing her features. "I promise. Next time, I'll tell someone if…y'know." And they did know. It was an issue their group decided to never talk about again.

Aiden absently traced the word he'd written in black sharpie on his right wrist as the teacher entered the classroom and began to take roll call.

"Zach's not shown up again." Jamie muttered out the corner of his mouth as the name 'Zachary Blakeman' was called out, with no reply. "What do you think's the matter with him?"

"He's been off for weeks, Jame." Millie was picking at a loose thread at the cuff of her jumper, Jerome pulling her hand away from her sleeve, as though to prevent the damage she would undoubtedly cause. "I think he must be really ill." Izzy snorted.

"Or he'd skiving, again."

"You really don't like Zach, do you?" Alice commented idly. "What did he do to you, Izzy?"

"None of your business, Alice." Izzy replied. "But he…follows me." She mock shuddered. Aiden giggled.

"He likes you." He sang. Izzy glared.

"Shut up, Stuart, or I'll – here!" Izzy was cut off from her threat as 'Isabella Moore' was called out. Alice hadn't noticed the other names had been called out – fortunately, one name later she called out 'here' and paid full attention to the conversation at hand.

"You weren't out on Saturday, guys." Jerome commented. Jamie and Alice exchanged uneasy looks as Millie began to giggle at them. "Where were you?"

"On a date!" Millie squealed. Alice head-desked and Jamie hid his face in his hands. "What?"

"I was dead to the world – tired, Mills." Alice pointed out, raising her head. "Plus, I was revising for an Italian test which I'm still going to fail because sir hates me."

"Speaking of lessons." Aiden plugged his ears, everyone following suit as the shrill bell rang out through the classrooms, others groaning or covering their ears, attempting to stop it from destroying their hearing. "We should be heading off – English, right?"

"Yes, off to study Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'." Jerome claimed dramatically, bag slung over shoulder, placing the back of his hand to his forehead in mock faint. "To be or not to be, that is the question!"

"…that's 'Hamlet'." Aiden said. Jerome smiled sheepishly.

"I knew that." Alice raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"Of course you did, J. Of course you did."

XoOoX

This is short…oh well, I updated.

OC's are introduced, huzzah! Any you like, any you don't? Any way to improve them? I'm open to constructive crit!

Anyway, I'm doing exams. I should be revising for German but I'm not. I'm writing this. I can improvise for that, and this is much more fun to write anyway. And these characters basically yell in my head, telling me to write more. So I did.

It's sad when fictional characters hold more power over you than exams which determine your future, really.

Aaaanyway, reviews please? Oh, and cookies may be available! Or Jack Frost. But that will be hard to give away, so yeah…just cookies. ~ Jazz xx


	3. Chapter 3

Alice really, really couldn't be bothered.

She'd died in English for the first time in her life. What the heck was the importance of the dagger hovering in front of Macbeth's face again? Something about crossroads, right? She wasn't sure. All Alice knew was that she ended up doodling snowflakes, Easter eggs and so on in the margins of her English book, which really wasn't good.

She'd failed Italian. Her mind was swirling with North's Russian accent and the symbols which glittered above Sandy's head. She was sure she'd stared at the wall for a good period of the lesson. Fortunately, Jerome also took Italian and had the common sense to elbow her when she nearly dozed off.

For the other two lessons, Tooth's obnoxious chatter had swirled around her brain, giving her a massive headache and had Alice considering taking therapy of some sort. It couldn't be reasonable to hear people's voices in your head, right? But next she had music. She could do music. It was basically just rehearsing for the Winter Showcase, so choosing a second song and singing along to the group number. Aiden also shared her music class, so if she was slacking, he'd snap her out of it.

Alice and Aiden took to the right, back corner of the classroom, soon joined by Zoe, a girl in their year, but didn't share home room with them.

Zoe had been good friends with Izzy for a very long time so, when they became friends with Izzy, Zoe became friends with them. The girl currently rested her guitar on her thighs, running dangerously skinny fingers over the strings. Zoe's frame was very small and delicate, almost as though she would snap at any moment. Her mum had told them that it was anorexia, or bulimia, she wasn't sure, but some weight was returning to Zoe, so she was tackling it well. But, still, whenever Alice saw Zoe, she wanted to wrap her up in bubble wrap, as though it would stop her from breaking.

"So, practicing performances for Winter Showcase, eh?" Zoe asked, flipping her black and red fringe away from her eyes. It kept falling in the way, though, it being completely wild. Eventually she gave up and tied it back into a ponytail. It didn't stop her fringe from falling in her eyes and Alice laughed at the completely annoyed look on her friends face.

"Well, of course, Zoe." Alice beamed, but her look soon turned thoughtful. "Also deciding on my second song, and your nickname."

"What are the nicknames already in use, mon amie?" Zoe asked, amused. Aiden let out a soft laugh, playing the opening notes of a song Alice really should have known the name of, but it escaped her, on his piano.

"The little mouse, the Mad Hatter, The March Hare, The White Queen –"

"Millie, obviously." Zoe interrupted. Aiden raised an eyebrow, but Alice paid it no great attention, carrying on with the names.

"- The Little Bat, the Gryphon and the Duck."

"Zach will kill you if you call him Duck to his face." Aiden commented idly. Alice smiled wickedly.

"That's half the fun." Zoe laughed.

"Great array of names you have there." She complimented. "No wonder you're having trouble giving me a name."

"Wait, you forgot the Tweedles." Aiden pointed out. Alice grimaced slightly.

"Ugh, I can't believe I forgot them." She groaned. "They're too annoying to forget. They seem to pop up EVERYWHERE!"

"I swear they've bugged the entire school or something." Zoe pointed out, before pausing and adding. "And possibly the entire neighbourhood, too."

"Don't remind us." Aiden commented, looking in worry at Alice who was repeatedly hitting her head against the wall. "Alice, you'll get brain damage."

"I know, I know." She sighed, leaning forward. "But seri – quick, practice!"

Immediately, Zoe began to strum her guitar to the tune of 'Standing in the Dark' and Aiden began to play the notes of 'Love Song', Alice hap-hazardly singing along and they feigned a very convincing argument. Their teacher seemed satisfied with Zoe's progress, broke up the fake argument and carried on and the trio returned to their conversation.

"But, anyway, enough about the twins." Zoe said, rummaging around in her bag for her water bottle. "What about the Red Queen?"

"You're too nice to be the Red Queen." Aiden said, before cowering under Zoe's bitch glare.

"Red Queen it is!" Alice crowed in triumph. Zoe's glare turned into a beam and Aiden blinked at the quick change of emotions.

"Why, thank you Alice." She said. "But, seriously, we should be practicing." Zoe went back to strumming her guitar, lightly singing the lyrics of the song along with it. Aiden played a rendition of 1000 miles, fingers slipping a few times, but it was barely noticeable, and Alice got to the nearly impossible task of choosing her second song.

XoooX

Despite her best efforts, Alice got cornered by Nate and Nick before she even got out of school. Really, they seemed to appear everywhere.

Each twin flung an arm across her shoulders, sandwiching the blonde between them. Identical smiles graced their faces, showing pearly white teeth, black hair shaggily cut and just brushing their shoulders and their green eyes twinkled with mischief. Alice grew slightly scared, but didn't show it. The twins would feed off any fear they could sense. It was as though they were vampires. Or Pitch, from what little Alice knew of him. But, in all essence, they were practically harmless. Most of the time.

"Nate, Nick. I see you're wearing different earrings today – what's with the gold hoop?" Alice addressed the twin on her right. His grin just grew bigger.

"I felt like being a pirate for today." He claimed, casually flicking his hair out of his eyes in a way which would cause many girls to swoon. That was obviously Nick – he was the much more showy twin. "You like?"

"Not really." Alice deadpanned. Nick feigned offence and Nate stifled a snicker behind his free hand. "What I really like is hot chocolate. Which is what I was aiming to get."

"We'll buy one for you, oh pretty Alice." Nate stated. "Save that money for something else."

"Because we have more than enough." Nick, his smile plastered on his face once again, waved a few dollar bills under Alice's nose, before stuffing it back into his jeans pocket.

"Whatever you want me to do, I'm not doing it." Was Alice's immediate response, which caused both twins to let out incredibly loud laughs.

"Oh, Alice, what makes you think we want anything?" Nick said.

"Maybe we just want to hang out with you." Nate added, brushing a loose lock of golden hair behind Alice's ear. She resisted the urge to bite that finger. "You are a very interesting person."

"Stop even attempting to flirt with me, Nate. It is not working." Alice said. Nate put on a look of innocence.

"Me? Flirt with you? Oh, Alice, how dare you even assume that! We know your heart belongs elsewhere." Alice glared at Nate, who was grinning again.

"Shut up."

"You should know by now-"Nick began.

"-That we do not simply 'shut up'. Now come on – we're buying you a drink, whether you like it or not." Nate ended. Alice groaned. "You would think you'd rather not spend time with us!"

"That's because I don't." Alice ground out, getting steered along the corridor and out of the school by the menaces on either side of her.

"Oh, such a shame." Nick said. "Duck." The three ducked in unison – Alice had realised that, most of the time, doing what the twins told you to had its benefits – and a snowball sailed over their heads, splatting against the brick wall of a building. The three stood up and the twins waved. Alice tried to move around Nate to see who it was, but they were moving before she got a chance to.

"Where to go to." Nate mused idly, arm still around Alice's shoulder. It was obvious they weren't going to let her escape any time soon – such a shame, really. "Alice, where do you like to drink?"

"Starbucks." She said in monotone.

"Nah, too big." Nick said. Alice raised an eyebrow – she thought he'd want to show off to just about everyone. "That little coffee shop a few streets away, Nate?"

"That shall be perfect, Nick." Nate beamed. "You are definitely my brother."

"But I'm the better looking one." Nick claimed, swishing his hair out of his face, gold earring glinting in the winter sun. _More like the most arrogant one_, Alice thought, as Nate stuck his tongue out at his brother.

XoooX

"Have you seen Alice, Aiden?" Jamie asked the blonde boy, who shook his head, curls bouncing around his face.

"She got out of music before me. Didn't bother waiting up. She might be home now." Aiden suggested. Jamie sighed.

"The Marshall twins nabbed her." Izzy piped up, carrying a massive stack of books in front of her. Jerome, who had just exited one of the nearby classrooms, darted over and grabbed a couple off the top, effectively lightening the load. "Thanks, J. I swear Miss Loosley wants to kill all the geography students by getting us to read all these books in a week."

"A week!" Jamie's eyes widened comically. "That must be impossible!"

"The sad truth is that she thinks we can actually do it, too, including those in the showcase and amongst all our other homework."

"Wait – the Marshalls grabbed Alice?" Aiden asked and Izzy clarified, giving him a look which clearly said 'didn't-I-make-it-obvious-before'. "She's going to murder them."

"Why?" Jerome asked, genuinely curious. Aiden sighed, rolling his eyes.

"She was griping about them in music. You know how much they can get on her nerves, especially if they push all of her buttons. Them being there pushes probably just over half already."

"Ah." Jamie said, looking slightly sheepish as they stopped by Izzy's locker and she shoved three of the books in there, stuffing one into her already bulging bag. "Should we go and save them?"

"I say we allow them to suffer Alice's fury – they are annoying." The black haired girl said, slamming her locker shut and locking it.

"But then she may get arrested for assault. Or murder." Aiden pointed out. Izzy sighed.

"Fine, we'll save Tweedledum and Tweedledee from the wrath of the White Queen's champion."

XoooX

"So." Alice started, flopping down into one of the armchairs in the coffee shop. It was quaint, the smell of freshly ground coffee beans floating through the air, with oak floorboards and flowery wallpaper covering the walls. A few pictures hung on the walls, mostly relating to hot drinks. There were leather arm chairs and sofas, wooden coffee tables and chairs and tables scattered around the building. Nick had wandered up to the counter to order drinks and Nate had been elected to keep Alice company, as well as to make sure she didn't escape. "You want something."

"I thought we'd clarified earlier that we just want to spend time with our favourite champion." Nate grinned and Alice groaned.

"You've been watching Alice in Wonderland."

"As you do." Nate shrugged. "But, seriously, we don't want anything much from you."

"I heard a much in there!" Alice's eyes flew open from their half-mast state as she pointed a finger accusingly at Nate, who now looked rather sheepish. "You do want something! What? What? Tell me, tell me, tell me!"

"Ah ah ah, Alice." Nick had returned, placing a tray on the coffee able, before flopping back onto the sofa next to his twin, arms going behind his neck to provide a rest. Heck, the boy could even splay out attractively. "Drink up first, and then we shall discuss business."

Surprisingly, it didn't take long for Alice to finish her hot chocolate. It was delicious, with whipped cream, marshmallows, a chocolate flake and hot chocolate powder sprinkled on top. They were bribing her, that much was obvious. Maybe if they bought her this hot chocolate every day for a month she'd agree to whatever scheme they'd concocted.

The twins took longer finishing their drinks – Nate had a vanilla latte, and Nick had ordered himself a cinnamon and hazelnut coffee. It seemed that they did differentiate in more ways than one.

"So, you want something from me." Alice leaned forward once the two placed their cups on the tray in unison. "Spill."

"The winter showcase." Nate began, putting on a mock wondrous voice. "The time for us to show of four amazingness at the performing arts and creative subjects."

"The perfect place for pranks to happen." Nick sighed dreamily.

"I'm not helping you destroy the showcase, if that's what you're planning on asking me."

"Oh, no. Not at all." Nick defended himself hastily. "But, as you know, we are performing."

"A little number. Very upbeat, very lively."

"But we need a female singer."

"And you, oh dearest Alice, have a very beautiful voice."

"Wait, so you want me to sing with you?" Alice held up a hand, processing the rather normal request from the twins, who nodded in unison. "That is a…surprisingly serious request."

"Hey, we can be serious!" Nate protested, pouting.

"You've just disproved yourself by pouting, Nate." Alice commented idly. Nate's pout became more prominent. Nick sighed, before smiling charmingly at Alice.

"So, we have a deal, Alice dear?"

"You can count me in." Alice said, holding out her hand and the two shook, sealing their deal.

XoooX

The group had split up in a search for Alice, Jamie left on his own while Aiden and Jerome, and Izzy, after grabbing Millie, had begun to look around the surrounding area. They were hoping the twins hadn't been killed or beaten up by Alice yet, because knowing Alice she wouldn't even hesitate.

As he trudged down the snow covered path, he spotted Jack, casually freezing over windows. Glancing around to make sure no one was around, he called out to Jack.

"Oi, Jack! You seen Alice anywhere? I'm trying to stop her from killing people." The winter spirit let out a laugh as he turned to face Jamie.

"Yeah. She went that way," He gestured down the street. "With two guys. Twins, I think. They the ones she's trying to murder?"

"Yes." Jamie sighed. "Thanks for the he – Alice?"

Sure enough, Alice was walking down the path between Nate and Nick, laughing at something the twin with the gold hoop said. Something bubbled up in Jamie's stomach, but he pushed it away. It was probably just shock that Alice hadn't murdered the duo yet. The two twins faced forwards, before waving in greeting. Jamie waved back, Jack putting his hands in his hoodie and reclining against the brick wall.

Alice glanced up and beamed at Jamie. She waved along with the twins, before running over, nearly slipping on the ice and crashing into Jamie. He managed to catch her arms and she looked up at him, grinning sheepishly.

"Hi, Jamie."

"Hi, Alice. Nick, Nate, glad to see you're still alive and unharmed."

"Ah, we didn't do anything to Alice."

"Don't worry Hatter, she is still fine."

"Who's your friend?" The two said in unison. Jamie's eyes widened slightly, Alice stiffened and Jack raised an eyebrow.

"His hair's cool." Nate said. "I mean, obviously not as nice as black, but white is pretty cool. Even if it isn't real."

"Mate, don't you want some shoes on?" Nick asked, raising an eyebrow. "Aren't you freezing?"

"Y-you can s-see me?" Jack asked, stammering slightly.

"Well, duh." Both said in unison, giving Jack a critical look. "Why wouldn't we?"

"This is impossible." Alice muttered under her breath, now standing next to Jamie.

"Why would it be impossible?" Nate raised an eyebrow, looking at Alice critically.

"Hey, Jamie! Alice!" The sound of footsteps echoed down the street as Jerome ran towards the group, Aiden following. Jerome skidded to a halt just behind Jamie. Aiden wasn't as lucky, and found himself sliding through the ice, right through Jack and crashing into Nick, who was staring, along with his brother, at Jack, identical looks of shock on their face. Aiden didn't notice.

"Eh, sorry…Nick, right?" Nick shook himself out of his shock, nodding.

"It's fine, Aiden." He said, shooting Alice and Jamie a 'we'll talk later' kind of look.

"Wow, Alice didn't kill you." Jerome commented, looking the twins up and down. "Anyway, we'll see you guys later, I guess." Jerome pulled Aiden away from Nick, before waving and carrying on down the street, leaving the four teenagers and winter spirit behind. Nick and Nate stared at Jamie, Jack and Alice.

"Explain." Nate started.

"Now." Nick ended. Both folded their arms, eyes narrowing.

"Wait, better idea." Jack raised his hand and all eyes turned to him. "Do you think you all could stay over at Jamie's house tonight?"

"Probably." The twins said in unison. Alice shrugged.

"Maybe. Why?" Jack grinned.

"I think a meeting with four other friends is in order."

XoooX

Nick didn't like not knowing things, hence the fact he could hack into the school security camera's. Yes, he had done it, along with Nate's help. When they were together, they could do almost anything.

So, seemingly the only way to figure out what was going on was to go to Jamie's house. So there they were, sitting on Jamie's bed, the brunets little sister sitting on the floor, reading a book.

"So, explanation?" Nate asked, spreading his arms out. Jamie sighed.

"We're waiting for Jack, guys." He said, leaning against the wall. "He should be here –"

"-now." All heads turned towards the window, which Jack was hovering in front of. Nick and Nate's eyes widened and mouths opened at the red sleigh behind him, holding Santa, the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy and…a six foot rabbit?

"Ok…this is so weird." Nick said, holding up a hand.

"You can see them?" Sophie asked. "All of them?"

"Yes."

"You believe in them?"

"Well, obviously!" Nate waved a hand madly towards the window. "They are right there!"

"But, as in…before. Did you believe in them before you saw them?" Jamie asked. Both of them shook their heads. Jamie turned to Jack, an eyebrow raised in question. The spirit looked confused himself. North gestured to the four.

"We should go get Alice." He said and at that, Jamie and Sophie were climbing into the sleigh. Nate and Nick were much more hesitant.

"It's not going to break…right?" Nick asked, hesitantly standing on the windowsill.

"Don't be silly." Jack said, pulling him in. Nick let out a yelp, grabbing the closest thing he could get a grip on, which was, unfortunately, some of Bunnymund's fur.

"Ouch, mate, that hurt!" He exclaimed and Nick let go, staring.

"I don't like this. This is so weird a creepy and what the hell?" Nick muttered. Nate followed in after his twin and the two sat down, just staring.

"You're taking this worse than Alice." Tooth felt like saying. When the sleigh began to move, the two held onto each other tightly. They were terrified. This wasn't normal. Why was it happening? To them, as well.

They reached Alice's house soon enough. Her window was open already, and her voice was coming out of it.

"…I don't know about you

But I'm feeling 22…" She sang. Jamie peered into her window and silenced the laughter bubbling up in his throat as he watched the blond dancing around her room in jogging bottoms, a hoodie and a pair of converse. Everyone else was listening to her singing, Nick and Nate calming down enough to grin at each other.

"…But I'll bet you want to

Everything will be alrigh – oh my God!" Alice started, nearly tripping backwards as she turned to the window and saw everyone looking at her, Jamie looking as though he was suppressing laughter. "…how much of that did you hear?"

"From 'I don't know about you'." Nate said helpfully. Alice turned an interesting shade of magenta.

"Um…yeah, can we forget about that?"

"Didn't know you were a Taylor fan, Alice." Nick grinned a Cheshire cat grin and Alice glared at him, before climbing out of her window and settling into the sleigh.

"Jack, give us a snow day tomorrow, would you?" She asked the winter sprite sweetly. "I have a boy to pummel with an arsenal of snowballs." She smiled at Nick, who gulped and attempted to hide behind Nate, who was laughing at his brother's misfortune.

"So…to the Pole?" Sophie asked North, who nodded.

"To the Pole!" And they were off, flying through the dark night sky, Nick and Nate still wondering why they could see the things they thought were not real.

XoOoX

BEFORE you complain, yes, I have a reason why Nick and Nate can see the Guardians – it is to be explained in the next chapter.

But, anyway, three new characters! Love 'em or hate 'em? I think I shall keep the twins, though they will stop me from completing my homework more than the rest of my charries.

Read and review! It's all appreciated! :D ~ Jazz xx


	4. Chapter 4

"The only good thing that comes from having you two as friends –"

"When did we update our relationship to 'friends'? I don't think I got that memo…"

"- Is that we get Millie's cookies for free!"

"Heh, Millie's Cookies is the name of a shop…"

"Honestly, this is insane and – oh my God, are they yetis?!"

Nick and Nate were sort of majorly freaking out. Ok, they were at the North Pole. Ok, childhood heroes (or 'guardians' as Jamie called them) were real. And now, yetis and elves? Seriously? They weren't 100% sure whether that was a good or a bad thing as of yet. Nate was slightly more relaxed than his brother and was already forming a mind map of the workshop, wondering if there was a way they could put cameras in, possibly microphones. If they could do it here, bugging the neighbourhood would be a piece of cake.

"Any ideas how these two idiots can actually see you?" Alice jabbed a thumb towards the twins, who let out indignant 'hey's at that comment.

"I have an idea…" Bunny muttered, before looking at North. "There was an incident a couple of hundred years ago – that group of adults spotted you traipsing around town, right?" He was completely oblivious to Nick's eyes bugging out of his head and Nate mouthing 'two hundred years' in bewilderment.

"Ah, yes. Sighted ones." North said.

"Sighted ones?" Sophie asked, standing on her tiptoes – surrounded by people who were so much taller than her made the younger girl feel rather insecure.

"Oh, I remember hearing something about that!" Tooth chirped, Jack looking confused. "Like, some people have the ability to see what's really there – the magic which prevents non-believers and such from seeing us doesn't affect them!" Sandy formed a thumbs up out of sand, nodding his head eagerly in agreement.

"That actually makes so much sense." Nate mused.

"Like the time we saw that guy shooting pink arrows at people in the park." Nick said. "It was weird that they weren't getting hurt. Cupid, right?"

"Correct." Jack said. "Cupid's so annoying, though. The prat thinks he knows everything." The winter sprite rolled his eyes.

"It also explains why our parents were so surprised when presents they hadn't bought for us appeared beneath our tree on Christmas Day." Nate laughed. "Maddy was so happy with her doll."

"Maddy?" Alice asked. Her interest was now piqued. She'd never heard a 'Maddy' mentioned at school. The twins grew quiet and everyone turned to look at them.

"Our little sister." Nick answered, before grinning again. "But enough about our family – where was this globe room? Maybe we could make it wireless or something."

"I don't doubt it one bit." Jamie rolled his eyes, forgetting the mention of Maddy, for which the twins were relived. "Lead the way."

And North did, the teenagers trailing behind slightly. Nick and Nate whispering conspiringly to each other, now and then pointing out nooks and crannies where, possibly, cameras could be hidden, or microphones.

Eventually, they reached the globe room and Nick and Nate immediately began to inspect the globe.

"Hmm, well, that should be simple enough…"

"…If we can get the configuration and stuff right…"

"Making the lights appear once people believe'll be difficult."

"Link it to this one. USB connection, possibly?"

"That might be best. A lot easier, too."

"What are they talking about?" Bunny asked, the twins high fiving each other once they came to their conclusion.

"I have no idea." Alice said. "They want to make a smaller, portable version of your globe, I think."

"Oh." One of the rabbit's ears twitched. "Why?"

"Dunno." Alice shrugged, Jamie smiling sheepishly and Sophie just giving the twins a critical look.

"Anyway, this place is neat." Nick spoke up.

"Could use a giant TV screen-"

"-And video games –"

"-Possibly a computer room-"

"-But other than that-"

"-Brilliant!"

Tooth was staring, as though trying to process what the twins had said. Aster's ears were twitching, him looking really confused. Sandy looked bewildered, North trying to piece together what the two had said and Jack was laughing.

"Think of them as one person." Jamie piped up. "It helps until you can distinguish them."

"Nick's the flashier one. Nate flirts with anything which moves." Alice added helpfully.

"I do not!" Nate defended, looking annoyed. "I only flirt with girls."

"And some boys." Alice said, snickering as Nate's face turned a bright hue of red.

"Shut up, Alice."

"Yeah, shut up." Nick added, pouting at the girl who was now laughing at both of the twins, who were pouting identically.

"So. You three, we need to determine what you will be guardians over." North said, gesturing to Jamie, Sophie and Alice. Alice immediately stood up straight.

"Yes, sir!" The teens laughed, thinking that she was joking, but Alice grimaced internally. It was sometimes a natural instinct, especially with men. Like her dad. "How should we start?"

"Any talents?" Jack asked immediately. "I mean, we don't become guardians of whatever we're good at, but it helps. Example, North can create many different toys, and he's guardian of wonder."

"Ah, I paint." Jamie piped up.

"A lot." Alice felt like adding. "Especially things to do with you five." Jamie shot her a glare while Alice smiled innocently.

"Alice is a dancer!" Nate chirped, Alice whirling around to glare at the twins. They were impervious to the glare by now. They had it directed at them so many times in the few years they knew Alice.

"And she sings." Nick added.

"That singing we heard when we were collecting her?" Aster asked. "It was rubbish. No offense."

"How is that not offensive?" Alice snapped. Jack shook his head. He was having a strange case of déjà vu right now.

"That was Alice's 'no one's here so I don't need to actually bother' singing." Jamie said. He grinned at the glare the blonde sent him.

"She has a really pretty voice." Sophie added.

"All of you guys are against me!" Alice whined. "Jack, please make it a snow day tomorrow. I want to destroy all of them."

"Can do. If…" Jack began, a smirk forming. Alice looked as though she expected this.

"And there's a catch! Brilliant!"

"You sing for us." Alice turned, raising an eyebrow. "We need to see how good you actually are. It could help us."

"I can't." She said simply, shoving her hands into the pockets of her hoodie. "No music."

Nick coughed, holding up his IPod.

"An arsenal of instrumentals for you to choose, oh dear champion."

"I hate you." Alice said, swiping the IPod and scrolling through the list of songs, her eyes lighting up at one of them, before pressing play. The sound of a piano filled the room and Alice cleared her throat, before beginning.

"There's a shop down the street

Where they sell plastic rings

For a quarter a piece I swear it"

Her voice started out slightly trembled, nervous at the thought of performing. But she caught Jamie's eye and he smiled. Alice grinned, and her voice grew stronger.

"Yeah I'm no angel

I'm just me

But I will love you endlessly

Wings aren't what you need

You need me"

Nick and Nate were nodding along to the song, Alice rolling her eyes. She wasn't going to face the guardians fully just yet.

"Yeah your friends might think I'm crazy

But they can only see

I'm not perfect, but I swear I'm perfect for you"

Sophie laughed at that – it fit Alice so perfectly. Because, yes, everyone thought she was crazy. But, in Sophie's mind, she was perfect for Jamie. Not that the two had noticed that yet.

"Ink may stain my skin

And my jeans may all be ripped

I'm not perfect but I swear

I'm perfect for you"

Alice gained the courage to look at the guardians. And she beamed. They looked as though she was singing _well_. That totally blew what her dad thought out of the water. Because the guardians _believed_. In _her_. And, really, that was all Alice ever wanted. Someone to believe in her.

"There's a shop down the street

Where they sell plastic rings

For a quarter a piece I swear it

Yeah I know that it's cheap

Not like gold in your dreams

But I hope that

You'll still wear it"

Alice bowed dramatically as the group clapped, some laughing, most just smiling.

"Well, I was proved wrong." Aster commented.

"As always." Jack said, flicking the rabbit in the nose. Bunny growled.

"Can we go home now?" Sophie asked, yawning. "'M tired. Jack, snow day." Jack saluted.

"Of course, Miss Bennett."

"Please don't take the sleigh." Alice asked, a yawn cutting her off as she stretched. "That'll just wake me up more and I actually want to sleep."

"Snow globes." North said, taking three out of his pocket. "Nick and Nate, take one. Jamie and Sophie one. Then Alice. You can get home then."

"Thanks." Alice murmured, taking the globe.

"Think of home and smash it at your feet. You'll be home in a jiffy." Aster said, grinning.

Alice did that, stumbling through the portal and collapsed, face first, onto her bed. She was flat out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

XoooX

"Well, it's snowing." Snowflakes were catching in Izzy's black hair, standing out starkly against her black clothing, making her look like a fallen angel. "Brilliant."

"You don't sound overly happy." Jerome pointed out, a snowball in hand. He was holding it back, tongue sticking out the side of his mouth slightly as he prepared to throw it at a group of oblivious jocks.

"I hate winter." Izzy reminded him, pulling her scarf further up. "It's cold and wet and icky."

"At least you didn't get pelted by snowballs." Jerome flung the snowball her was holding at the jocks, before turning, along with Izzy, to face a dripping wet Aiden. "They've found another way to punish me for being gay – joy."

Jerome tugged his jacket off and slung it over the smaller boy's shoulders, despite Aiden's protests. "You'll freeze, J!"

"You'll become an ice statue if you don't stay warm." Jerome countered, taking his scarf off as well, removing Aiden's and slinging the dry scarf around the blonde's neck. "Besides, I've got a hoodie and two t-shirts on. I'm fine."

"I…thanks, J." Aiden said, snuggling into the warm jacket.

"Hey, no prob. It's what friends are for, right?" Jerome smiled, wrapping an arm around Aiden's shoulders and giving him an awkward sideways hug.

"Hey guys!" Alice was running over, fully decked out in snow gear. Jamie was following, Sophie on his heels. The twins, who were, surprisingly, still intact (Izzy was sure Alice would've decapitated them), following at a more sedate pace. "The snow's great, huh? Where's Millie? Zach?"

"No, the snow is not great." Izzy replied, scowling at Alice's jolly nature. "Millie is hiding from the wet cold stuff at home and Zach is still ill – I was forced by Millie to bring him some soup." The girl pouted. "I wish I could hide indoors, but my dad refused. Said I need more fresh air. Jerk."

"You do need more fresh air, though." Nick said, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Yeah, you're indoors more than we are, dearest Izzy." Nate added. "Such a shame to hide such a beautiful face." Izzy glared at him, kicking the twin in the leg. Nate let out a cry of pain, drawing his leg up and holding it with both hands, wincing in pain.

"Shut up, or you'll be stew." Izzy said.

"I shall slay you like you were the jabberwocky!" Alice declared. "But, anyway, I think I promised to pummel you with snowballs. I'll give you five seconds to run. 1…2…"

And Jamie, Sophie, Nick and Nate were off, running as though their lives depended on it. Alice made a snowball and ran after them, flinging it at Nick's head. It went off course, crashing into a nearby tree.

"Shall we get coffee?" Jerome asked, holding his arm out to Izzy.

"Yes. Coming Aiden?" Izzy asked, taking Jerome's arm.

"Of course." And the trio walked off, leaving the five friends in an intense snowball war.

None of them noticed the white haired boy leaning against the tree Alice had hit, smirking at the snowball war. The ground beneath his feet trembled and a hole opened up, Bunnymund coming out of it.

"Frosbite."

"Kangaroo."

"You kept to your promise, I see." The rabbit said, smirking as Sophie, who had managed to tackle Nick to the ground, began to shovel snow down the back of his top. "They've grown up quickly, haven't they?"

"It seems like yesterday we were facing Pitch." Jack murmured, smiling fondly as Jamie and Alice closed in on a scared looking Nate. He was hit simultaneously by two snowballs and Alice and Jamie let out yells of triumph, before scooping up snow and, while the twin was attempting to get snow out of his vision, shoved it on top of his head, high fiving each other in the process. "They haven't matured much, though. What are you doing out here anyway? Thought you hated the cold."

"I do." Aster's ear twitched in mild annoyance. "I was bored, though. The eggs are being painted and everything's going to plan. I'm ahead of schedule. I wanted to see how this lot were doing."

"Admit it." Jack smiled up at the rabbit, tone teasing. "You just missed me."

"As if I'd miss you." The bunny snorted, before getting hit in the face by a snowball. "What the –"He looked to see Sophie, giggling. He crouched and prepared a snowball. The girl screeched, before running off, laughing, the rabbit in pursuit. Jack shook his head, watching the pooka in interest.

"You know I miss you, you silly rabbit." He murmured, shaking his head, before floating over to Nate, Alice and Jamie, helping the boys in attempting to catch the girl who could run almost like the wind. An advantage of being a dancer, he supposed.

XoooX

"So Nate's there, and this girl's totally falling for his charm." Nick was in hysterics, the group sitting in the coffee shop the twins had dragged Alice into the other day, mugs of warm hot chocolate in front of them. "And when he's about to get her number, Lanna, our cousin, shows up and drags him off! The girl looked totally offended and thought Lanna was his girlfriend or something. It was brilliant!"

Nate hid his red face in his hands, groaning as Alice began to giggle, Jamie laughed and Sophie nearly choked on her hot chocolate.

"Oh my God, Nate!" Jamie said, patting Sophie on the back. "That must've been the worst mistake you could've made!"

"It will haunt me forever!" Nate groaned. Everyone in the group laughed. Well, apart from Alice. One of the customers had caught her attention.

He was tall and pale. He was wearing a long, old fashioned coat. He carried a black cane with him, sort of like Lucius Malfoy's cane from Harry Potter, only with a rounded top instead of a snake head. On his head was a fedora. His entire outfit was black and he looked like a ghost. He ordered something to go from the counter and, as he turned, his scarily familiar silver eyes locked with Alice's.

All of a sudden, fear flooded her. She felt as though the dark was closing in on her, tightening her lungs in an iron grip as she struggled for breath. Her worst nightmares filled her mind and the grip on the handle of her mug grew impossibly tight, knuckles turning white.

"Hey, Alice? Alice, are you ok?" Alice managed to turn away, looking from the cold grey eyes into Jamie's warm brown ones. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I think…" She gulped, glancing back to where the man once was and her breath stuttered when she realised he'd gone. "I think I saw Pitch. He's here, Jamie. And he…he isn't invisible. We need to tell the guardians. And now."

XoOoX

Shorter than anticipated, but it's an update.

Hope you enjoyed it, guys! Reviews are really appreciated! ~ Jazz xx


	5. Chapter 5

"Slow down, Alice. Now repeat it. Slowly."

Alice let out an exasperated huff as the giant rabbit attempted to calm her down.

"Pitch was here. He was at the coffee shop – but he wasn't invisible. He walked up to the counter and ordered coffee and everything!" She waved her arms for emphasis. This did not have the desired effect, as Aster exchanged a dubious look with Jack, who shrugged. Alice stamped her foot in annoyance. "He was there!"

"Look, are you sure?" Aster asked. "If you're wrong, we could be losing valuable time tracking him down."

"Yes. Yes…I…" Alice's brow furrowed slightly. The group was in the park, currently, many people going back inside as Jack's presence made it grow colder. She tugged her coat closer to herself as she thought about the suffocating darkness. "I saw my fears. He was there and…and he looked at me, right in the eye. And I couldn't breathe." She raised a hand to her chest as the four people behind her exchanged looks. "And it turned dark. I was…scared."

"I think she's right." Jamie said, sighing and, after scraping snow off a low brick wall, sat down, elbow resting on his knee as he placed his chin on his hand. "I mean, no one else can cause you to see fears like that, right? But, how is he…human? Visible? And relatively normal looking?"

"Could it be interference from someone like the Man in the Moon?" Sophie asked. "I mean, he's like good people's leader. Why wouldn't there be one for the bad people?" Nate furrowed his brows in thought.

"In all logic, that makes sense. But, what if Pitch isn't intent on causing mayhem – hey, hey, don't kill me!" The twin raised both hands in surrender as Aster and Jack glowered at him. "I'm just saying! Without fear, how many of us would be dead or worse by now?"

"You have a point…surprisingly." Jamie muttered. Nate shot Jamie a sour look.

"Guys, that is not the point – the point is that Pitch is back and has a physical form. That just means he can do more, especially if he still has his powers in that form." Sophie spoke up, clapping her hands twice and causing the two boys, who were currently in a staring contest, to jump, Jamie blinking first, and turning to face the younger girl. "Excellent. Wait a sec – if Pitch can maintain a proper form, why can't you guys?"

"Us? Physical forms?" Aster snorted. "Hate to disappoint you, mate, but a giant bunny isn't going to exactly be inconspicuous around humans."

"But Pitch didn't look like how I remember him, according to Alice's description." Jack's brow furrowed, looking thoughtful. "She said he had silver eyes, not yellow."

"Zoe has silver eyes." Nick added. "I don't think anyone has yellow eyes."

"It is highly possible you have a human form." Alice mused, before walking around the rabbit, observing him. The rabbit's back stiffened and his ear twitched uncomfortably. "Australian, still. Muscular – half the popular girl's'll be swooning, Izz'll be cautious, but meh. The accent'll kill most people. Figuratively speaking." Aster looked highly disturbed. Sophie stifled a laugh behind her hand, Jack attempting to memorise the look on Bunny's face and use it for future blackmail. "Hair'll most likely be long, able to be tied back in a ponytail or something. Tanned, with tribal markings." She ran a hand down the pooka's arm. Bunnymund's ears were flat against his skull in embarrassment. Jamie rolled his eyes – this was so typical of Alice. Nick and Nate were just managing to stop their laughter from escaping. "Grey hair – it can occur naturally at a young age. Green eyes. Voila, human form." Alice looked chuffed.

"This is mentally scarring." Aster confirmed, looking at Alice, slightly uneasy.

"No, this is Alice." Sophie confirmed, grinning like a Cheshire Cat at the rabbit.

"Do me!" Jack said. "What would I look like?"

"The same, but with…I dunno, brown hair?" Alice waved him off, Jack pouting.

"Guys, does this really matter?" Sophie waved her arms madly. "Shouldn't we, like, get to the Pole or something?"

"Don't worry, mate, I'll head over now." Bunny said, giving Alice a critical look. "I'll report to you all later." And, with two taps of his foot, he'd gone down one of his tunnels and was racing towards the Pole, leaving the six standing there awkwardly.

"So…snowball fight?" Nick suggested and Sophie, Jamie and Alice were running from the two evilly grinning twins and one excited looking Jack.

XoooX

"School…school…it sucks…"

"We know, Alice. You've been saying it for about fifteen minutes straight now." Aiden and Zoe had been dragged into walking with Alice on the way to school, which they were perfectly happy with…before she started complaining.

"But it's evil!" She whined, dramatically flinging her arms above her head. The two music students shot each other worried looks.

"Alice, calm down." Zoe said, looking at the girl before promptly crashing into someone. "Oh, sorr – Zach!" and she promptly engulfed the boy in a hug.

Zach was taller and more filled out than thin, delicate Zoe, but he hugged her as though she would break if he held her too tight. His blonde hair was hidden by a dark blue woollen hat. His nose was slightly red.

"Hey Zoe." He said, eventually pulling away from the smiling girl. "Alice, Aiden."

"You've been off for weeks!" Alice said, promptly launching herself at Zach, who spun her around almost on impulse. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much, I had some weird, evil virus." Zach shrugged. "I dunno, I just couldn't sleep."

"That sucks." Aiden commented, patting him on the back. "Shall we head in, out of the freezing cold?"

"Yes." Zach said. "That might be a good idea."

The four walked into school together, the jocks avoiding them, surprisingly. That was when Alice noticed the ginger jock from the other day had a black eye and she visibly groaned.

"What has J done this time?"

"What do you…oh." Aiden noticed the boy, before speeding up his walk and disappearing into homeroom. Zach and Alice exchanged looks of worry, before Zoe spoke up.

"I'll see you guys around – I should head to homeroom." The two nodded and the girl ran off. Zach and Alice, bracing themselves, entered the classroom.

Jerome was sat on a chair at the back of the room, sporting a cut lip and a nasty bruise on his cheek. Millie was attempting to dab at his cut lip with a wet paper towel, Izzy hovering nearby, biting her fingernails. Jamie was clicking his tongue against his teeth and Aiden was in the middle of scolding the taller boy.

"Are you insane?" He screeched. "If Millie and Jamie hadn't stopped you, you could have been expelled, J!"

"I know, Aiden." Jerome responded calmly. "But they did stop me and I'm still in one piece."

"Why did you even bother?" Aiden huffed. "Was it really worth it?"

"He called you a fag." Izzy said quietly and Aiden stiffened, his hands curling into fists. "And tried to pin me against a wall for defending you. I was fighting a panic attack when J showed up. If it wasn't for him, I'd probably be hiding in the toilets…" She raised her eyes and caught sight of Alice and Zach. Her eyes narrowed slightly as her gaze met that of the boys. "Zachary."

"Isabella." The two stared at each other, before Izzy grunted and moved up the desk she had perched on, Zach sitting next to her. Alice moved to stand next to Jamie, who smiled wearily at her.

"You stopped him." It was a statement.

"I wanted to kick the other guy where it hurts." Jamie said. "But I have restraints. I don't want to be on Santa's naughty list." The two exchanged looks and cracked up, earning themselves confused looks from their friends.

Eventually people began to file into the room, the jocks taking a table as far away from the little group as possible. The teacher walked in and eyed Jerome and the ginger jock, before taking the register, ignoring it. It was quite common for the kids to get into fights outside school. There was no evidence that this hadn't happened the day before.

Then they were heading off to their lessons, attempting to forget the incident that happened this morning.

XoooX

Alice stabbed one of the piano keys, the dull note echoing around the music room. Aiden peered around the doorframe.

"Alice?"

"I can't think of what bloody song to sing!" She exclaimed, looking ready to pull her hair out. "I've been thinking and thinking and thinking and nothing!" The blonde allowed her head to hit the keys, the loud sound resonating around the room, causing Aiden to wince. "My life is rubbish."

"Alice. Shut up." Aiden took a seat next to her on the piano bench, propping her chin up. "You can think of a song, even if I have to help you." Alice sighed.

"Play me a song, Aiden?" She asked, and Aiden sighed, before running his fingers along the keys once, before placing them in the correct place for the start of the song. The tune was very familiar to Alice, and she smiled slightly as she began to sing the first verse.

"Right from the start

You were a thief you stole my heart

And I your willing victim"

She sang the rest and, to her surprise, Aiden sang the chorus with her.

"Just give me a reason

Just a little bit's enough

Just a second we're not broken just bent

And we can learn to love again"

They sung the chorus in perfect unison, Alice cutting off to allow Aiden to sing the next verse.

"I'm sorry I don't understand where all of this is coming from

I thought that we were fine

Oh we had everything"

There was evidence of tears in Aiden's eyes, but Alice didn't question it. She knew he was hopelessly in love with Jerome, but he would never know. There was a repeat of the chorus, them still singing again.

"Oh tears ducts and rust

I'll fix it for us

We're collecting dust but our love's enough

You're holding it in

You're pouring a drink

No nothing is as bad as it seems

We'll come clean"

They sang the part together, voices raising so much they didn't hear the footsteps coming to the door, the tall, dark figure leaning against the doorframe and listening to them singing, an odd smile on his face. Alice was the one to finish the song off.

"It's been written in the scars on our hearts

We're not broken just bent

And we can learn to love again"

Aiden finished with a flourish on the piano keys and the two grinned at each other. That was when the slow clapping started, causing the two to jump and stare at the stranger in the doorway. The stranger that Aiden didn't know, but caused Alice to jump up, reaching to her belt, before realising she'd left the knife at home and causing her to curse herself under her breath.

"Excellent. So, this is the one who knew of my fall from grace." Pitch said, grinning wickedly. "My loss of power. My return to mortality." Aiden looked confused, head whipping back and forth between the adult and the teen.

"Oh, yes, I know all about you." Alice spat. Aiden raised an eyebrow.

"You two…know each other?" Alice cursed internally. Aiden didn't know. Pitch's gaze turned to Aiden, eyes slightly wide.

"Hmmm, well this should be interesting." And the two's eyes met, bright blue with cold grey and Aiden froze, his breathing coming out in short, trembling gasps.

"Stop it!" Alice yelled. "What do you want?"

"Oh, this isn't even the greatest extent of my power, Miss Wonderland." Pitch said. "Everyone feels like this when they meet my gaze." And he pulled his eyes away from Aiden, who was now gasping for air. "I want you to find who did this to me, and get rid of them."

"Wait…" Alice trailed off, eyes widening. "You mean, you didn't do this to yourself? Someone, something, did this to you?"

"Silly girl." Pitch spat. "Of course I didn't do this to myself! Do you know what this form limits me to? It gets rid of my main powers, my nightmares and leaves me basically powerless. I am no longer immortal. Why would I want to be restricted to this form?"

"I…" Alice trailed off, staring. What were they dealing with? Something more powerful than the person who controlled fears? Was that even possible?

"Yes, you didn't think." Pitch inclined his head. "Next time you meet with the guardians, tell them I offer them my alliance – you will need it." And the man turned and walked out of the room, leaving Alice's heart beating fast and furiously.

"Alice?" Aiden's voice piped up, sounding terrified. "Who…who was that?"

"Later, Aiden." Alice said, her voice strangely firm, although she wanted to crawl into a hole and hide there forever. "We need to get Jamie, Sophie the twins and everyone else – I have a feeling none of you are going to be spared from this."

Aiden didn't protest, didn't demand answers. He didn't want them. He knew that, whatever Alice told him, would shatter his reality, and he didn't think he could live with that.

XoooX

"I think you've gone insane."

Jamie rolled his eyes at Izzy's offhand comment as she slurped her blueberry smoothie. How she could have a smoothie in the middle of winter confused the boy infinitely, but he didn't question it. The rest of his friends, minus those who already knew about the guardians were staring at him incredulously. "Thanks, Iz. Nice to know I have you on board."

"But, Jamie." Millie leaned forward, a chocolate chip cookie in one hand. "This defies all logic – childhood heroes can't exist. Santa doesn't give us presents on Christmas day, the Easter Bunny doesn't come during Easter, the Tooth Fairy doesn't collect teeth, the Sandman doesn't bring dreams and Jack Frost doesn't bring snow. You must know that."

"And this 'Pitch'?" Jerome looked incredulous. "You cannot believe that the Boogeyman is real."

"You weren't in the music room, J." Aiden looked traumatised, haven't even touched his mocha. "I thought I would never be happy again…I was terrified." Jerome shot him a confused look.

"Aiden, it isn't true – you know it can't be!" Izzy exclaimed. "It's impossible!"

"…I believe them." Zoe spoke up, her voice quiet. "I mean, they wouldn't tell us it was true unless it was, right?"

"You're mental, all of you." Izzy stood up. "I'm off, coming Zach?"

"Sorry guys, but it's too insane…" Zach stood up and the two walked off. Alice's gaze fastened onto the four left, and Millie and Jerome shifted uncomfortably.

"This is impossible." Millie shook her head. "I'm going guys. Sorry." And she stood up and left. Jerome bit his lip, wincing as it started to bleed again.

"I don't think I can stay…it's impossible. It's weird and too much." He ran a hand through his already messy hair – a nervous habit. "I'm already picked on as it is by the others for hanging out with you." Aiden flinched at that, before his gaze turned hard.

"Maybe it would be best if you weren't friends with us, then." Jerome looked hurt.

"I didn't mea –"

"Go, Jerome."

"Ai –"

"Just go, Bradfield." Jerome flinched, before standing up, taking in a deep, shaky breath.

"Fine. Just, fine." And he turned and walked off. Aiden ran a shaky hand through his curls, meeting Alice's concerned gaze.

"I'm staying." He said, resting his chin on one of his hands.

"I'm staying, too." Zoe said, looking at the five teenagers sitting across from her. "I believe you guys, you've never lied before."

"Thank you, Zoe." Jamie inclined his head, before looking at Aiden. "Aiden? Are you going to be ok?"

"Yeah…I'll be fine." He shook his head, curls bouncing madly. "But I'm with you guys – that guy…"

"I know." Alice said, shuddering. "It felt dark…like you couldn't breathe." Aiden nodded, taking a small sip of his mocha. Zoe tapped too thin finger against the table.

"So, Pitch…" Zoe began. "What does he look like?" Alice described him, Aiden adding in now and again, and Zoe's eyes grew wide, a hand going up to cover her mouth.

"Zoe?" Nate looked concerned. "What's the matter?"

"I…I've seen that man before…" Zoe said. "My mum…she has a picture of him…oh my God…"

"Zoe?" Nick asked as she froze, silver eyes widening as she grasped at a locket around her neck, taking it off and opening it, showing a tiny picture of a man inside, who looked almost exactly like the man Aiden and Alice had described.

"He's…he's my dad."

XoOoX

Fact!

Alice had to practice for hours on end to get her singing to the standard it is now. Once, she lost her voice for a week. Jamie loved the silence that accompanied it, not so much the punches he received for that comment.

Aaaand this is so cliché, but come on? How many of you were expecting this? I swear this is going to be the only really cliché thing that will happen in this story, but I had the idea swimming in my head for a while and I thought it would fit, so yeah.

About the random fact – I might put one in after every chapter to give you a feel for the characters. I might write one-shots involving them, but many won't make it into the actual fic. So yeah, first up is Alice!

Anyway, read and review! ~ Jazz xx


	6. Chapter 6

"What d'you mean Pitch was at your school?" Jack was leaning against a tree, idly watching Aiden and Zoe, who were staring at him slightly. Jamie shrugged.

"S'what Alice said." He clarified. "And Aiden was there too, which is why he is currently here."

"And the other girl?"

"She believed us." Zoe had snapped out of her shock, giving Jamie a glare.

"I do have a name, y'know."

"I know you do, but I don't actually give a damn."

"Will you two shut up!" Alice snapped, stepping between the two who were now sending heated glares at each other. "Jack, Pitch offered to make an alliance. He isn't behind this…whatever is going on. He's lost his powers, apart from being able to instil fear, but even then, he has to look at you directly in the eyes. He doesn't have his nightmares or anything else."

"Something more powerful than Pitch?" Jack sounded surprised. "Is that even possible?"

"Well, obviously." Sophie said in a 'duh' kind of tone. "If they managed to get rid of his powers and stuff."

"What kind of powers did he have?" Aiden asked, voice very quiet.

"Pitch?" Jack questioned, and at Aiden's nod, continued. "He created nightmares. Both physical and mental – there may have been a period of time when you were very young where you didn't have dreams. That was because of him. He manipulates a substance known as dream sand, as well as being able to blend into darkness."

"Creepy." Aiden said, nodding. "And he's been stripped of all these powers? Someone, or something, really powerful would have had to do that."

"Thing is, we don't know who." Nate muttered. "Any ideas?"

"I don't, exactly, research childhood fairy tales and the likes." Aiden said blandly. "So no, I don't have any ideas."

"Shouldn't we be heading to the Pole or something?" Alice asked. "figured that was customary when big news was heard."

"No need." Heads whipped around, aside from Jack's, at the Australian accented voice from behind them. Aster was standing there in all his rabbity glory. "We got the info straight from Pitch himself. We've accepted the alliance – we need all the help we can get if we are dealing with someone more powerful than the Boogeyman."

"I feel like I've stepped into a children's film." Zoe murmured, holding a hand to her forehead. "Am I hallucinating?"

"Nope." Aiden said. "Unless we both are, which is highly improbable."

"But that's a giant rabbit."

"Yes. Yes it is."

Fortunately, no one was really paying mind to the two teens, mostly discussing plans of action.

"We're going to fight, of course." Sophie said, jaw set stubbornly.

"No you are not." Aster retorted. "You are going to stay at home, out of danger, got it? Just because you're supposed to become a guardian doesn't mean you're immortal."

"But we were chosen! That must count for something!" She protested.

"No. You aren't going out there. Any of you." Aster's eyes swept over the four older teens, two who knew they weren't going to fight, and two who actually had a right to.

"We have weapons, though!" Alice said, eyes blazing. "We –"

"Don't have enough experience to fight a battle." Aster retorted. He sighed. "Look, I know you want to, but face it. You're just a bunch of kids." And, with two thumps of his foot, he was gone.

Alice was fuming, along with Sophie. Jamie looked slightly relieved, though. His sister and Alice were alike – determined. They would stop at nothing to get what they wanted. With the rabbit out of the way, they definitely wouldn't be able to get involved.

"Jack Frost, you are going to tell us if anything comes up." And he'd forgotten about Jack, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat at Sophie.

"Of course, Miss Bennett. Though, I think it be best if you do stay out of it." And he was gone, like frost in sunlight. Well, bugger it all. Jamie felt like giving up completely. Alice, meanwhile, grinned.

"Well, at least we'll know what's going on."

"Just don't get killed in the process." Jamie warned, before the group walked off, Zoe and Aiden following them, still in slight shock.

XoOoX

It was Friday when they got news from Jack.

Well, Alice got news. Which she then passed on to Jamie.

"You know the old cottage right in the middle of the woods? Jack thinks they may be hiding out there. We're investigating after school."

"Wait, we?"

"Yes. Jack invited me along for the ride. Don't give that look, Jamie – you can come along too, even if it's just to make sure that I don't get hurt. But we'll be fine, trust me."

It was only when the three of them were in front of the cottage that Jamie regretted his insistence that he follow. It was old a derelict, it's door almost hanging off the hinges. The windows were boarded up, old moss and ivy crawling up the sides. The roof was torn away in some places.

"Well, this is it." Jack sounded cheery, and Jamie shot him a scowl. This was his fault, after all. "Shall we head in?"

"I think so." Before Alice could take even a step forward, a blur of black barrelled into her and she yelped.

"Get the fu – Izzy?"

"You are not going in there!" Izzy's voice was high pitched and worried, blue eyes wide and full of terror. Jamie had never noticed her in such high detail until now, realising that she had emotions other than annoyance. "I heard you and Jamie talking about going in there, and you are not. I don't care if you're looking for the Boogeyman or going ghost hunting or whatever. You are NOT going in there."

"We sort of have no choice." Alice shook Izzy off, marching towards the cottage, head held high and determined. "You can come, if you're so worried about us." Jamie heard Izzy curse under her breath, before darting after Alice. He followed hesitantly, Jack up ahead of him.

Alice opened the door, tiptoeing into the building. It was dark, wrecked. Wallpaper peeling off walls which were grimy, the floorboards creaking under her leather boots. There was a second floor to the building, and the floor had fallen away in some places.

"I'll check upstairs." Alice whispered. "You stay down here. I won't be long."

"Shouldn't you –"

"No, I'll be fine Jamie. You won't even know I'm gone." She flashed him a wink, before bounding up the creaky, wooden stairs. Jamie wished she wouldn't be so rash and prayed that she wouldn't fall through the ceiling.

Izzy whimpered, grabbing Jamie's arm. "you're insane. Both of you."

"I'm starting to agree." He grumbled, before slowly making his way deeper into the house, Izzy's grip on his arm tightening. Jack was following. Jamie wished he could tell him to follow Alice, but Izzy would actually think he was insane, and that was one more problem he didn't need.

They were halfway across the living room when he felt the darkness descend on him. It was Izzy who weakened first, hands gripping her ears, mouth open in a silent scream.

"Make it stop." She whimpered, eyes wide as they darted around the room, pupils dilated in fear. "Jamie, what's happening? It's so dark and…" She let out a scream, a shrill, piercing, blood curdling scream, before dropping to the floor, curling up into a ball, trembling. The hairs on Jamie's neck stood up.

"Izzy, Izzy…" He knelt down next to her. He heard a shuddering gasp from jack and turned to see the once hovering spirit had fallen to the ground, staring into nothing, eyes wide.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

"Jack – " And Jamie froze, eyes widening as a darkness descended over him. It was scary – he knew his eyes were open, but everything was pitch black. He would have laughed at the irony, if he wasn't so terrified. Then an image formed in front of him. Blonde haired Alice looking at him, a sneer on her normally cheery face.

"You don't love me." She said mockingly. "And even if you did, why would I want someone as pitiful as you?" She kicked him in the stomach, winding him as he gasped for breath. Another voice had joined. Another Alice.

"Wake up, Jamie!"

"Worthless!"

"You've got to be OK!"

"Pitiful!"

"What happened to Jack and Izzy?"

"Freak!"

And Jamie blacked out, curling in on himself, as though it would protect him from the bullets that were her words.

XoOoX

Alice heard Izzy scream, and that was when she knew something was wrong.

She shoved the old, almost destroyed pages she'd found on the chest of drawers into her coat's pocket, before darting down the stairs. She burst into the living room in time to see Jamie fall to the floor.

"Jamie!" She cried, running over to him. His eyes were wide open, but unseeing. His mouth was slightly agape, breath coming out in shallow gasps, as though he were trying to draw in air. "Wake up Jamie! You've got to be ok! What happened to Jack and Izzy?" And his eyes closed and Alice's frantic pleading began. "Jamie! JAMIE! OPEN YOUR EYES! JAMIE!" A cold laugh filled the room, and Alice got to her feet and turned, almost stumbling on shaking legs as she tried to strengthen herself. "Who's there?"

There was no reply.

"What did you do?" Alice heard her voice shaking and cursed herself for showing weakness. The laugh came again, and images flooded her mind. Her dad's disapproving face, her mother turning and walking out the front door, Izzy walking away from the table at the little coffee shop, her back turned on Alice… she squeezed her eyes shut. Stop it, she scolded herself, they can't hurt you. And that was when the taunting began.

"Poor little Alice, who fell down the rabbit hole, but never found Wonderland." Alice clamped her hands over her ears, trying to block out the unfamiliar, cold voice, fingers digging in so deep into her scalp she felt blood being drawn. "So many fears…so sweet."

"You're just like Pitch." Alice managed to hiss through the thoughts flooding her mind. "But he's with us now! You control fears, and he does too. And the guardians –"

"Oh, no, dear sweet Alice." The Shadow laughed a cold, high laugh which sent shudders up her spine. "See, Pitch only shows fears. I show the dark reality. Your dear friend Jack Frost? He's seeing his sister on the ice, it cracking beneath her feet. On repeat. And he cannot do anything, is left watching his sister almost die over and over again. Isabella? Oh, her dark reality is fulfilling. Being pinned down, lips against her neck. Unwillingly, all the same, and dark, rusty smelling blood being spattered against a sink." Izzy shuddered on the floor behind Alice and the blonde froze, hand seeking out the knife, concealed behind her long coat. "And let's not even start on Jamie-bear. The harsh, brutal reality that the one person he loves doesn't see him as anything more than a best friend, a brother. But you," Alice felt a cold breath against her cheek, the presence of the shadow close, almost as though he had ran a caressing hand down her cheek. "You hold so much darkness in your little life. A father, who has never believed in you, a mother who couldn't cope with the pressure of looking after a rambunctious five year old, who dreamt of talking flowers and rabbits in waistcoats."

"Shut up, shut up." The words were whispered, hand pressed against ears as Alice squeezed her eyes shut, as though trying to block out the images which flashed across the forefront of her mind.

"Then came high school and you met Jamie, another who was just as crazy as you, believing in childhood fairy tales." The Shadow sneered, in disdain. "Only, he was proved correct, his stories of the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause real, while you were left in a fantasy world of smiling cats and tea parties with a Mad Hatter."

"Shut up." The words were said this time, fingernails digging into the flesh around her ears as The Shadow laughed mockingly.

"Poor little Alice, so delusional, still stuck in a story book. But the story book Alice had friends, at least, but you think you can never live up to their standards, always left in the shadows. The only reason they put up with you is because you're cheap entertainment, a laugh. But I," The Shadow ran a finger down her face. "I can change all that."

"Y-you can?" Her eyes opened, green and wary, yet somewhere hope glistened in them. She could hear the small part of her which had taken on Jamie's voice tell her it was a lie, to not believe it. She brushed it aside.

"Why, of course. I just need more power…a physical being. Not a shadow, dear Alice. And you can do that."

"How?"

"Just hand me your knife, little one." Out of the shadows a hand appeared, made entirely of darkness. It's fingers were long and spindly, reminding Alice of the spider that had lived in the corner of her room before her dad had killed it. Alice had always liked spiders. They were weird and quirky, a lot like her. "It holds more power than you believe possible, little one. With it, I can give you a family. Friends. Anything you desire."

"I…" Almost unconsciously, her hand drifted towards her knife once more, fingertips brushing the hilt lightly. Would it really matter that much if she gave it to him? She could finally have her dad believe in her…

A lump grew in the back of her throat at that. But she refused to cry. She drew in a shaky breath, hand moving to take the knife, but was cut of by a curse spoken in a familiar voice. Bunny.

The Shadow cursed, the hand retreating. "Wait!" She cried, almost impulsively, but there was no reply. It was gone. Her one hope at having her father proud of her had vanished into the darkness, leaving her with an aching heart and hopeless thoughts.

It was only after Bunny had burst into the room when Alice let herself collapse, knees scraping the wooden floor as she let herself cry. It wasn't horrible, choked sobbing. She'd been scolded for that many a time. It was silent tears.

She didn't notice Izzy waking up with a choked gasp as she was released from whatever enchantment the Shadow had put upon her, and the sight of the guardians. She didn't notice the arms of Jamie wrap themselves around her, murmuring into her hair. Didn't notice Aster yelling at Jack for being such a bloody idiot for going exactly where they told him not to – 'we thought you were dead!'. She only noticed the sound of heavy boots when a strong pair of arms lifted her up, as though she were eight, not eighteen. They smelled like sawdust and Christmas time. A comforting smell. The arms were comfortable, and she couldn't remember the last time she had been held like a child. As soon as she could walk, her dad had stopped carrying her, no matter how many times she said her feet hurt, hoping for some sign of affection. But this person didn't seem to care.

Finally, Alice allowed the black spots on the edge of her vision to cover her eyes completely, surrendering to the sweet dreams of rabbit holes and tea parties. Dreams where the Shadow didn't lurk and the smell of pine needles filled her nose as she laughed, completely carefree. She couldn't remember the last time she had been like that.

XoOoX

Fact!

Aiden is very, very shy. He feels comfortable behind his piano, because people can't see him, but still he trembles. When Alice attempted to get him up on stage with her and sing, he clung to Jerome and wouldn't let go until Alice gave in and dragged Jamie up with her instead.

Haven't updated this in forever! Sorry for the wait, but next chapter. And the baddy has been introduced.

Not too pleased with this, but meh.

Read, review and all that jazz! ~ Jazz xx


	7. Chapter 7

Her dreams were weird and confusing. Alice had determined the fact that she needed to let go of her slight obsession, or at least quit naming people after Alice in Wonderland characters, because she was sure these dreams were not normal.

The first dream was of Jamie, Sophie and the Sandman, all sitting around a giant table, adorned with teapots and cups and plates and saucers. Jamie was wearing a top hat, which continually slipped down to cover his eyes. He was grinning like a maniac. Sophie had massive, brown ears sticking out the top of her blonde hair, continually sipping from a teacup. Sandy had a pair of mouse ears and a tail. He was dozing off where he sat. Alice looked down at herself and realised she was wearing a blue dress with black shoes. She took the empty seat beside Jamie, who smiled charmingly at her, before pouring her some tea.

The next one she could recall was that of Aster, looking unhappy, wearing a waistcoat and carrying a silver pocket watch, muttering something about time running out. Jack materialised out of nowhere, hovering upside down in the air. A pair of purple and pink ears jutted out of his white hair. His entire outfit was pink and purple, striped, and he had a matching tail. Jack said something about relaxing, gave Bunny his famous Cheshire cat grin, before pecking the disgruntled rabbit on the nose and disappearing into thin air again.

Nate and Nick, dressed exactly alike, were annoying Izzy, who was wearing bat wings and a short, black dress with leather boots. She was scowling at them, whereas Zach, who looked a lot like a duck, was attempting to get the girl to calm down a bit and failing miserably. Millie, who was wearing a white gown, eventually turned up and flounced away with the twins on either side of her, looking remarkably graceful.

Aiden was wearing mouse ears, a tail, and a timid smile as Jerome, wearing a costume which Alice supposed was meant to resemble a griffin, kissed his forehead in a tender sort of way. Aiden had his hand in one of Jerome's and the taller boy pulled him into a hug as Aiden blushed furiously. Alice briefly wondered if this was as close to a relationship as they would get, before her vision went black again.

Then there was Zoe, walking between Pitch and North. She was wearing a long, red dress, her hair done up in a bun on top of her head. Pitch was wearing a suit, a black heart covering one of his eyes, an arm drawn around Zoe's shoulders in an almost protective way. North was bedecked in red, a crown placed on top of his head. It was then that Alice also spotted Zoe's crown. They were walking through a rose garden, some white, some red. The white roses displeased Pitch. Alice decided that they should have a change of colour. After all, you could always paint the roses red.

XoooX

Alice awoke to a brilliant white light and the disdainful face of Pitch.

"You're awake."

"No, I'm not." And she tried to hide back under the covers, only to realise the man had decided to take them hostage. Well, she really should have expected that. Alice merely crossed her arms over her chest. She was still wearing her T-shirt from the other day, along with the jeans as well, though her boots and socks had been removed.

"Now you are. And you have some explaining to do. So, explain." Alice observed her toenails, as though they were the most interesting things in the world. She really needed to repaint them, though – the nail varnish was chipping.

"What?"

"Whatever happened back there." Pitch snapped and Alice started, staring at him. "I'm not an idiot, girl. I may not be able to cause nightmares, but I can sense them. And you were having a handful. You also talk in your sleep."

"What right do you have to pry into my dreams?" Alice felt violated and naked suddenly. He'd seen her nightmares, her fears, her most intimate thoughts.

"I didn't pry into them." Pitch said, looking aghast at the thought. "Even I'm not that heartless!"

"And you are pretty heartless." Alice muttered, but he ignored her.

"No, I merely sensed you were distressed. The Sandman gave you dreams, though they were rather interesting." Alice swore she saw his lips twitch slightly. "What gives you the idea that Frost and the kangaroo would be romantically involved?"

"I didn't have that idea!" Alice felt her cheeks turning red with embarrassment. "I can't help what I dream!"

"I liked the cat ears and the tail – a nice addition. But then I was there, with one of your friends. And North. Very interesting." His eyes met hers for a brief second and, for once, Alice didn't feel afraid. It was as though he didn't want her to fear him. "Very interesting."

"I heard you the first time."

"No need to be sarcastic, Wonderland." Alice glared at Pitch, who was carefully avoiding her gaze. "Now, what happened?"

"I don't have to tell you anything!"

"Stupid girl, don't you see? By telling me this, you could help get rid of the problem quicker."

"Why can't I tell North or someone else?"

"North is…" Pitch hesitated, and Alice clearly saw that. She'd heard it enough times from Izzy when she was talking too much and was on the verge of blurting out massive secrets. "…trying to figure out what caused your friends to react so…violently to whatever caused you to black out." Her eyes widened. Oh God, she'd forgotten about them.

"Are they alright?"

"They were terrified when we got them here, the girl barely coherent, sobbing." Pitch said. "We let her sleep, though she obviously knows we are real. The boy described a high pitched laughter and something to do with fear –"

"The dark reality." Alice cut in, causing Pitch's head to whip around to face her. She drew her knees up to her chest, taking a deep breath. "That's what he said he showed – the dark reality. Jamie s-saw someone who he loved not loving him back. Izzy, something which we vowed to never, ever tell anyone and something about blood…" Alice wrinkled her nose in slight confusion. She still didn't understand that. "Jack had something to do with his sister and ice…I…I saw my dad, my mom leaving, Izzy walking away from me…it was so cold…" She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering.

"Did he want anything?"

"A physical form. He…he said he wanted my knife."

XoooX

"But what can he gain from her knife?" Tooth asked, fluttering to and fro, looking around at her fellow guardians plus one in fear.

"I told you, I don't know." Pitch responded, sounding exasperated. "If I did, I would have told you, so I can become immortal once more and I don't have to speak to any of you again."

"One would almost think you didn't like our company." Jack muttered, Sandy showing a tick in agreement. Pitch scowled at the both of them.

"Alice's knife is just a normal knife, alright?" Aster butted in. "Nothing more special than one of our weapons. Jamie had his sword on him, this…shadow could have taken that, but he didn't. Why?"

"Because Jamie has believed in us all his life." North's voice wasn't strong or powerful. He sounded almost…scared. "Alice hasn't."

"Alice's will would be easier to bend." Pitch added. "She told me what the Shadow showed her and, though she never said it, I could tell that she almost handed it over. The only thing stopping her was the bunny's arrival." Aster ignored the offhand insult.

"The thing is, she didn't. And why does the Shadow want to have Alice?" Jack frowned thoughtfully. "I mean, she's nothing overly special, no offence to her or anything. Jamie would be a better choice – you know how close he is to all of us."

"That's the exact reason why he didn't choose him." North pointed out. "We would know if Jamie was acting different, Alice not so much."

"Where is Alice, anyway?" Tooth asked.

"She went back to school." Pitch said. "Those two…monsters, demanded it."

"Oh, Nick and Nate?" Jack perked up. "I like those two – they're fun."

"They scare me."

"Wow, the spirit who guards fears is scared of something!"

"Those two are a good reason to be scared!"

XoooX

"So, you told them. All of them." Alice gave Izzy an annoyed look as the girl blushed.

"Well, yeah. If this creepy thing is still out there and stuff, they need to know!"

"Um, we are right here, you know." Jerome pointed out, absently twirling the straw for his coke between two fingers.

"And you automatically believed Izzy and not us?" Nate asked.

"Well, she denied it. Furiously." Zach inputted, taking a bite of his cheese toastie. "By the way, this place is awesome."

Their group was gathered around a large table in the little coffee shop, waiting for Millie to show up. Apparently, she was working with someone on a food project. She had been put in charge of the refreshments for the Winter Showcase, along with a small group of other people in her class. Zoe didn't like the fact that she'd been hanging out with one of the boys in her food class excessively because of this, and was currently stabbing her pasta moodily with her fork.

"We know this place is awesome." Nick said. "But, still, I'm annoyed that you didn't believe us in the first place."

"I understand why they didn't believe you two." Jamie plucked the straw out of his lemonade and pointed it towards both the twins. "You are well known for lying and jazz."

"Hey!"

"But Alice and I have never ever lied to you guys. So, yeah, I'm pissed."

"Language, Jamie." Aiden commented idly, stirring his coffee absent-mindedly. "Besides, it is a lot to take in."

"Hey, guys!" Alice's head snapped up to see Millie walking over to the table, behind her a boy.

He had messy black hair, with bright coloured streaks going through it. They looked purple. He had the same coloured eyes – Alice assumed he was wearing contacts – and dark coloured skin. He gave them a blinding smile.

"Hey, Millie." Zoe perked up immediately, stopping the mutilation of her pasta, until she spotted the boy with her. "And this is…"

"Oh!" Millie blushed a bit. "Guys, this is Chance Eldwin. He's my project partner for the Winter Showcase."

"Pleasure." Chance's voice was smooth and velvety, as though he had a high class upbringing, though his appearance suggested otherwise. He was all bright colours and flamboyancy, a ray of light amongst the dark clothes their group were more accustomed to wearing. He was definitely garnering attention from other occupants of the coffee shop.

"Nice to meet you, Chance." Jamie smiled. "I'm Jamie; this is Alice, Izzy, Zoe, Zach, Jerome, Aiden, Nick and Nate." The rest of the group chorused their hellos apart from Nate. Alice looked at him and stifled a giggle when she realised he was staring, open-mouthed, at the boy. Chance's eyes lit up.

"You might want to close your mouth – don't want any flies going in there, do we?" Nate promptly closed his mouth, turning a brilliant shade of magenta. He garbled something about needing to use the bathroom, before making a mad dash for it. Nick watched him, amused, and a pleased smile curved Chance's lips.

"I've never seen Nate move so fast." Jamie sounded impressed. "Even when I told him that Miss Ellens was coming round the corner when trying to hotwire her car."

"He tried to hotwire a car?" Chance leaned forward expectantly, eyes shining with curiosity. "Sounds interesting."

"Nick and Nate are always up to something like that." Izzy shrugged it off. "He's not used to being flirtee – normally, he's the flirter."

"True that." Zach nodded, before chewing on the last piece of his toastie. "Gosh, this is delicious!"

Something flickered in Chance's eyes, something almost like pride, but it was gone before Alice could be one hundred per cent sure of it.

Millie shuffled into the seat next to Zoe, and Chance grabbed a chair from a random table, pulling it over to theirs and sitting on it, splaying out attractively. Alice needed to research how it was possible for boys to splay about attractively, where girls couldn't - first Nick and Nate, now Chance. She'd bet just about anything that Jerome and Zach could probably accomplish that, too. Aiden, she couldn't see. He was too tiny to be anything other than adorable, though he'd resent her if she told him that to his face, and Jamie…well, Alice found it hard to think of him as attractive. More handsome, but in a school boyish sort of way.

"Have I got something on my face?" Alice blinked, realising she had been staring at Jamie, who was now observing his reflection in his glass. Zach snorted.

"Your face is fine, idiot. You're just charming Alice." Alice felt heat rising to her cheeks and she tried to hide under the table at Jamie's incredulous look. "If I swung for your team, I'd totally go for you. Not that I swing for that team, mind." Zach hastily corrected himself and Aiden was in fits of giggles. Chance was laughing.

"Nice to know, Zach." Jamie rolled his eyes, an amused smile gracing his lips. Alice thought it suited him, a small honest smile. She shook her head slightly, as though to rid herself of the thought.

"Nate! God, what took you so long?" Nick asked his brother as he slipped into his original seat. "Why is your hair wet?"

"Oh, th-there was an accident with, um, the, er, tap." Nate stuttered and stammered. He never fumbled over words before. What had changed? Alice's eyes did a quick skim around the table, until they rested on Chance. Oh. _Oh_. A smirk came across her face. This was going to be fun.

XoooX

"So, Chance was…"

"Different."

"I was going to say 'weird'." Alice hummed slightly at Jamie's comment as she wandered around the auditorium's stage without any specific purpose.

"His hair's cool."

"It was black and purple. His clothes made me want to claw my eyes out." He responded blandly, taking a seat in one of the many chairs facing the stage. Alice began to circle her arms as she walked around, wind milling across the stage. "Why, exactly, are we here again?"

"I wanted to get a feel for the stage." Alice was aware of how her voice echoed off the walls, bouncing around and filling the auditorium with sound. A sound she created. A strange shudder of pleasure rushed through her as she realised that her singing would be echoing off the walls in a few weeks, when they were performing. It was a daunting thought, but exciting too. "Plus, I need to know how loud I will have to sing, how big a performing space I have and so on."

"Does it matter? I thought most of the performances were going to be in the hall, anyway, so people could eat while watching and stuff." Jamie picked at a hole in his jumper, eyes continuously darting towards Alice, who was now sitting on the edge of the stage, her face a few inches above his as she studied him thoughtfully. "What?"

"What did The Shadow show you?" Jamie blanched, shields coming up on all sides and alarms blared in his head.

"Nothing important." He tried to evade the question, standing up hastily. He was now a head above Alice's height and it gave Jamie a boost of confidence.

"Oh, that's odd, because it told me what you saw." Jamie froze and gave Alice an incredulous look. She was gazing up at him with big, green eyes, filled with worry, concern and possibly a slight hint of anger. "Who are you in love with, Jame?"

Instead of answering, he backed away slowly. "Alice, I…"

"Jamie." Her voice sounded pained. "You can tell me, you know. I won't tell anyone. I mean, who has to know?"

_I'll keep you my dirty little secret…_ The lyrics flashed through Jamie's mind. A dirty little secret…he couldn't help but muse over the words. _Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret…_

"I'm not going to tell you." The words came out before he could stop them. "This is my secret to keep, but you can guess."

"I…I guess I will then." Alice's voice had taken a new determined tone. "And I will guess right!"

Jamie let out a laugh. "You can try, Princeton, but I doubt it." And he walked out of the auditorium, not knowing that Alice was now determined to find out who he liked.

And normally when Alice was determined, she'd find the conclusion for just about anything.

XoOoX

Fact!

Millie learnt to cook after her dad died, and her mom could barely make toast without burning it horrendously. Millie didn't want to live a life which consisted of take away meals and burnt toast, so took up cooking in her free time and is a very good cook, as her friends can confirm.

'nother chapter, guys!

Chance may or may not be slightly based off Magnus Bane from The Mortal Instruments, because every story needs a Magnus Bane. So, yeah, there may be some resemblances ^^'

ANYways, enjoy!

Read, review and all that jazz! ~ Jazz xx


	8. Chapter 8

"Fingers OUT of the cake batter!" Millie just managed to save the mixing bowl from Alice, who stuck her finger in her mouth, eating the batter that she'd managed to get. "Honestly, don't you have anything better to do?" Chance caught Alice's eye and winked from where he was rolling out pastry for his apple pie. She had decided that she was going to steal some of it once he was done.

"I told you, Millie." Alice said again, sitting on one of the tables in the food room. Millie shot her a glare – they did have to prepare food on those surfaces. "Aiden is off somewhere with J – snogging, if I have anything to say about it. Zoe's trying to stop Nick and Nate (Chance's attention was regained here) from getting themselves arrested or something along those lines. Izzy and Zach are conversing about something I really can't be bothered to join in with and Jamie's ignoring me." At that, a frown crossed Alice's face. "Why is he ignoring me, Mills? He's never been that pissed at me before."

"I don't know, Alice." Millie sighed, eyes softening as she poured the batter into the cake tin and put it in the oven. She closed the oven door and sat next to Alice, placing a flour covered hand on her shoulder. "He'll get over it, though. He cares for you, though."

"He's in love with someone." The fact was said blatantly, with no careful excursion of the words. Millie's eyes widened. "He told me I should guess who it was."

"Alice." Millie looked the girl directly in the eyes. Alice had never noticed before, but her dark green eyes had flecks of amber and brown in them. You could almost imagine that someone had placed a forest in Millie's eyes. "You should leave Jamie alone to…to figure out his feelings for this person."

"You know who it is, don't you Mills?"

"I have my…suspicions." Millie hesitated. "Look, Alice. I know you want to find out, but it is best to leave it. You know Jamie hates it when people try to find out things he prefers to keep private."

"He's the one who told me to find out in the first place!"

"Cariño," Chance had come over, tiny bits of sweet pastry stuck to his nimble fingers. Alice hadn't noticed that he'd finished already, the oven turned on. "I think what Millie is trying to say is that Jamie acts rash sometimes. Am I right?" Millie nodded. "So do not take what he says seriously, hm?"

"I…oh, alright." Alice sighed and Millie smile, ruffling Alice's hair much to her disgruntlement and returned to her work station. "But you owe me a slice of cake."

"Alice, I always owe everyone a slice of cake." Chance laughed at Millie, before sitting on the table next to Alice, reclining languidly like a cat.

"I didn't know you spoke Spanish." Alice said and Chance merely winked.

"Ah, there are so many secrets I have."

"Like what?" Chance's eyes twinkled.

"If I told you, they wouldn't be secrets anymore, now would they?"

XoooX

"So…Chance." Nate let out a sigh at the obvious suggestion in his brother's voice. It had been this way since the incident at the coffee shop. Honestly, it wasn't Nate's fault he acted like that; Chance was just very, very different from whom he usually met. Not to mention his heart did something similar to a gymnastics routine at first sight of the odd boy with the purple eyes. It didn't mean he liked Chance or anything. He was straight, Nate knew it. Only now, whenever he stumbled over his words when Chance was there, he was beginning to doubt himself.

"What about him?" Nate said nonchalantly, trying to brush it off. Maybe if he acted casual enough…

"You like him."

No dice.

"I do like him, Nick. But as a friend." His twin's smirk grew.

"I never said you liked him as anything more."

"You were implying it."

"Nate." Nick's voice had turned serious. It was unusual – normally, Nate was the serious one of the two. "You know I just want you to be happy. I mean, I never expected you to be gay –"

"I'm not!" Nate ran a frustrated hand through his hair, biting his lower lip. "At least, I don't think I am. I've never felt…y'know…attracted to boys in…that way." His cheeks were tinged pink as Nick coughed awkwardly. "It's just…Chance. He was…wow…"

"I think that was everyone's first impression." Nick commented, nudging his twin in the side. "He's a very colourful character – both figuratively and literally speaking." Nate laughed.

"Definitely." He shook his head, hair flying around in a casual manner. He was gaining stares from girls on the other side of the street. "He's different. Compared to everyone else I've met, he's stands out."

"You didn't act like he was anything special."

"I made a fool of myself, Nick. I never make a fool of myself."

"You do have a point there…"

Nate rolled his eyes. Some things would never change, he guessed.

XoooX

"J, you don't need to teach me to dance."

"Sure I do." The taller boy jumped, span three hundred and sixty degrees in mid-air and landed perfectly. "You're performing, aren't you? You want to impress the people there."

"Yeah but I can't do…that." Aiden tilted his head, curly bobbing with the movement. "It looks impossible."

"I'm a seasoned dancer, A. No need to worry." Jerome grinned. "Besides, it won't be anything complex. You could easily to a rond, or maybe even a chasse." Aiden's eyes grew wide.

"Um…I-I think I'll stick with my piano, thanks."

"Relax, they aren't even that complicated of a move." The dancer smiled at the smaller boy. "But, if you're sure, you don't have to. Just…dance with me? Please?"

"I…uh, ok." Jerome beamed, before grabbing one of Aiden's hands in his own.

"Sing us a song, Aiden." The smaller boy blushed slightly.

"Like what?"

"A slow one." Aiden resisted blushing and stammering by pure force of will, before humming a tune under his breath and singing along as Jerome led them in a dance.

"Heart beats fast

Colours and promises

How to be brave

How can I love when I'm afraid to fall?"

Jerome was humming along to the song. Their dance wasn't anything elaborate, just swaying really.

"I have died every day waiting for you

Darling don't be afraid I have loved you

For a thousand years

I'll love you for a thousand more."

Aiden was in slight shock. Since when had Jerome ever asked Aiden to dance with him? It would normally be Izzy or Alice – they could dance. Aiden was awkward and clumsy. Why him?

"And all along I believed I would find you

Time has brought your heart to me

I have loved you for a thousand years

I'll love you for a thousand more."

They came to a stop, face to face, Jerome leaning down slightly as Aiden let out tiny puffs of air, blue eyes wide with amazement. It was when Jerome brushed a curl off his forehead when both boys snapped out of it, the still clasped hands releasing the other and pulled back sharply as they stood there awkwardly. Aiden shuffled his feet.

"I'm m-meant to b-b-be meeting A-Alice. I'll s-see y-y-you later?" And, without waiting for an answer, the boy bolted, leaving Jerome staring at where he once stood in complete and utter confusion as his heart began to finally stop trying to jump out of his chest.

XoooX

"He did WHAT?" Alice spat out her drink back into her mug, staring with wide eyes at a madly blushing Aiden, who hasn't touched his latte and was turning it around absently.

"He leant down and brushed my hair out of my eyes." He whispered. "I-I thought he was going to…to…to k-k-k-kiss me."

Alice squealed incredibly loudly, drawing stares from the few people there.

"Alice!"

"I knew it! I KNEW IT!" she flung her arms into the air in triumph, all attention definitely on the two. Aiden attempted to sink into his seat, as though it would swallow him and hide him from the world. "You have an admirer, little mouse!"

"It was in a heat of the moment thing." Aiden was still red faced, eyes wide. "He didn't mean it, he couldn't have meant it. I mean, honestly, I'm not much, am I?"

"Aiden, you need to stop putting yourself down." Alice said, voice suddenly serious as she surveyed him with piercing green eyes. Aiden had to stop himself from flinching. "You are amazing, you know. Anyone, boy or girl, would be lucky to have you. Just have some faith in yourself. Now, come on, I'm supposed to be meeting up with the gang to talk about the group number and that includes you. And Zoe will probably kill us if we're late."

XoooX

"I'm still pissed that they decided to change the whole group thing." Zoe muttered, flicking hair out of her eyes.

"Think of it this way – you're not stuck with gits." Nate said cheerfully, watching his brother install a small camera into the back of one of the many chairs in the auditorium. Practice, mostly, for when they'd have to move onto bigger venues.

"You two count."

"Sorry we're late!" Alice bounded down the steps, Aiden being dragged along by her. "We were having coffee and stuff."

"Fine. I'm just ticked off." Zoe pushed herself up so she was sitting on the piano and Aiden immediately sat on the stool.

"Whatever we're doing, I'd like to stay behind the piano, thank you. Jerome attempted to give me a dance lesson and I completely embarrassed myself."

"You'll have to sing, too." Zoe hummed, rifling through music sheets in her folder. "So, we want something with piano as the main instrument, and enough parts for all of us to at least get a small solo."

"Something by Vanessa Carlton." Nate suggested. "Or you can adapt something to fit a piano. There's some cool videos on YouTube for songs like 'Red' and stuff."

Aiden ran deft fingers over the piano keys thoughtfully.

"I want to try something. We can do this as a group number or Alice can use it for her second song."

"Go for it." Nick had joined them on the stage. "Show us your masterfulness on the piano." Aiden shot him a critical look. His fingers ran over the keys, settling gently before starting to play and, ever so carefully, began to sing.

"Stand up straight

Do your trick

Turn on the stars.

Jupiter shines so bright when you're around"

Nate smiled slightly, recognising the song and starting the next part.

"They tell us slow down,

We're too young you need to grow

Speeds the key

And they don't know who we are."

The two shared a smile, before singing, the other three joining them, the chorus.

"And who's to say that we're not good enough?

And who's to say that this is not our love?"

Alice took the entirety of the next verse. It always made her think of her family. She'd choose her friends any day.

"Mother don't tell me friends are the ones

That I lose, 'cause they'd bleed before you

And sometimes family are the ones you'd choose

It's too late now

I hold on to this life I found"

Nick took the next verse, twirling around Zoe gracefully.

"And who's to say we won't burn it out?

And who's to say we won't sink in doubt?

Who's to say that we won't fade to gray?

Who are they anyway? Anyway they don't know"

Zoe rolled her eyes at his antics, but dutifully sang the next verse.

"And you say we're too young, but maybe you're too old to remember

And I try to pretend but I just feel it when we're together

And if you don't believe me you never really knew us

You never really knew"

Aiden played the interlude gently, eyes half closed in concentration. When he had finished, Alice and Nate sang the next part softly.

"You and I, packin' up my room, we feel alright

But we're not welcome, soon

We'll be drivin', 'cause they don't know who we are"

And they burst into song, Nick joining in, Aiden's fingers running over the piano keys dutifully, a small smile on his face.

"Who's to say we won't stay together?

Who's to say we aren't getting stronger?

Who's to say I can't live without you?

Who are they anyway? Anyway they don't know"

They all sang the final verse, putting raw emotion into their voices. They were the misfits, the song seemed to represent them. No one knew who they were. They were still kids in many people's eyes but they weren't too young. They knew what they were doing, they didn't need anyone to tell them otherwise.

"And you say we're too young, but maybe you're too old to remember

And I try to pretend, but I just feel it when we're together

Who is to say?

And who is to say?

And who are they anyway?"

Aiden played the last interlude, and sang the final line gently, as though it hurt him.

"Stand up boy; I shine so bright when you're around"

"Well?" Aiden asked and Zoe was smiling.

"Definitely a contender."

"Glad you said that." The five turned to see Chance, Jerome, Jamie and Millie at the top of the steps in the auditorium. It was Chance who'd spoken – that much was obvious. Nate discreetly took in his appearance – his eyes were still purple, he was sticking with the contacts, but the streaks in his hair were now a brilliant red, matching the scarf he wore around his neck. Surprisingly his jeans were a normal denim colour. His top was a bright purple. He stood out against the other three, who were wearing relatively plain clothes. The twin shook his head – he really should pay less attention to Chance. "It was amazing."

"Thank you." Nick gave his cocky smirk. "Aiden has to take credit – he chose the song." Aiden flushed.

"Ace playing, by the way." Jerome made his way down the steps. "I can see why you wanted to stay behind the piano."

"Thanks." The smaller boy smiled sheepishly, running his fingers across the keys with a feather light touch, before standing. "Should we head out?"

"Yeah. Millie owes me cake."

"I always owe you cake, Alice." The brunet rolled her eyes, but left the auditorium. Most of the group followed, leaving Jerome and Aiden still stood by the piano.

"About earlier…"

"It's fine, J." Aiden spoke up, looking up at the taller boy through his messy fringe. His blue eyes were shining with the exhilaration the performance gave him and Jerome's heart promptly skipped a beat. "I know it…it…didn't mean anything…"

"But it did!" Aiden started at the exclamation, staring at Jerome with wide eyes as the footballer ran a hand through his hair, as though deliberating his words. "I…I didn't know I had…feelings for you. I don't know what I am…but I like you, Aiden. And not in the way Nick and Nate like each other, or in the way Alice and Izzy like each other, but in the way that Jamie is completely head over heels for Alice. But maybe not as much as he is." Aiden let out a nervous laugh.

"I think only Alice is oblivious to how he feels." He felt his breath catch in his throat as Jerome placed a gentle hand on his cheek. They were slightly rough, but he didn't care. Blue eyes met brown.

"Can I…can I kiss you?" Aiden took a leaf out of Alice's book – when in doubt, be reckless. He stood on his tiptoes and, almost as though he would get burned, pressed his lips gently on Jerome's.

Heat.

That was what it felt like. An overwhelming, insufferable heat which made his bones turn to liquid and his blood boil and he couldn't care less. He was expecting fireworks, but he didn't get them. This alternative was much better, in his opinion. Aiden felt Jerome's hand gently run up his back to tangle in his hair and Aiden made a happy sound in the back of his throat, arms coming to wrap around Jerome's neck as they kissed.

Alice stole the camera footage Nick and Nate had of them the next day.

Aiden really should have expected that.

XoOoX

Fact!

Aiden needs reading glasses. He hates wearing them, but it is necessary or his eyesight will worsen even more. Alice thinks they make him look very professor-like. Jerome thinks that they make him look insanely cute.

Another chapter, people!

Not much relating to guardian jazz here, just normal high school stuff. But meh.

I have written JAIDEN! Yes, I give my couples ship names *hides in shame*. Anyway, I've wanted to write them since I came up with both of the characters and ASDFGHJKL I did. So no major romance for a while yet. I just needed to write that and get it out of my system and yes.

Read, review and all that jazz! ~ Jazz xx


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